Amy Rosaldin: To Catch a Prince
by C. Richard Crawg
Summary: Amy, Cosmo and Cream rewrite the story of Aladdin for Sonic and gang. Amy: Hi, Sonic! Enjoy! Cream: Please review. Cosmo: I hope you like it. Cheese: Chao, chao, chao. Warning: Currently updating slowly.
1. Authors' Note

Authors' Note

**CRC: Hey, C. Richard Crawg here, but not for long. See, this ain't my story, I'm just publishing it. So allow me to present the real authors. Amy Rose…**

_Amy: Hi, Sonic!_

**CRC: Cosmo…**

Cosmo: Hello.

**CRC: and Cream.**

Cream: Pleased to meet you.

_? : Chao!_

**CRC: Oh, and of course Cheese.**

_Cheese: Chao, chao, chao._

**CRC: But we won't be hearing much from Cheese, this is mostly the girls' show.**

_Amy: Yeah, except for your commercials._

**CRC: Amy, we've been through this, they're not commercials, they are interviews with characters in some of the stories I wrote.**

_Amy: In other words, they're commercials._

Cream: Amy, be polite: Mr. Crawg let us use his fanfiction account, the least we can do is let him tell people about his other stories.

Cosmo: Yes, and if people don't want to read the interviews, they can skip over those.

_Amy: Hmph! Just takes up unnecessary space._

**CRC: Look, let's just get to the point of the Authors' Note. You gals wrote a version of Aladdin with yourselves as the characters. Care to tell everyone why?**

_Amy: Well, I was just thinking about Sonic, about how wonderful he is and how much we love each other, and-_

**CRC: Yes, yes, yes, but how did you go from there to writing yourself into Aladdin?**

_Amy: I'm getting there! Anyway, I found myself wishing that Sonic and I were in one of those wonderful movies with romance and adventure and such, and I thought to myself, why don't I rewrite one of them so that it's about us and then give it to him as a present? So I started thinking about what movie I'd do, and… well I don't know, Aladdin just seemed like a good choice. But rather than make myself the princess that Sonic would rescue, I thought it would be a little more realistic to make Sonic the prince who's heart I'd win over. Now, after I had started writing, Cosmo found me and asked what I was doing and if she could join in._

Cosmo: Actually, our roles got a little jumbled. Although, I mostly play the part of Abu during the story, our roles flip several times. It really complicated things. Although the story stays mostly the same for some time, as the story progresses, the extra characters give the story twists and turns that the movie didn't, especially at the point where Cream joined us. See, we didn't think to ask her if she wanted to help, so by the time she found us, we were well into the story.

**CRC: So basically, it's the same Aladdin we know and love, but with extra elements as a side effect of writing yourselves into the story.**

Cosmo: Exactly.

**CRC: Well, this should be fascinating. Could you give us a quick run-down of the character's before we get started?**

Cream: (handing me a paper) Sure Mr. Crawg.

**CRC: Thanks, Cream, but please call me Richard… or CRC.**

Dramatis Persona

Aladdin: Amy Rosaldin (slight Cosmo)

Princess Jasmine: Prince Sonic

Abu: Cosmo Oak (slight Amy)

Rajah: Tails

Jafar: Rouge

Iago: himself but as a Flicky named Elaso

Narrator: Snively

Captain: General Robotnik

Sultan: King Charles Sire (Uncle Chuck)

Carpet: Ariel Chaos (that's Chaos with wings)

Genies: Vector, Charmy and Espio

Extra: Cream

And certain others.

**CRC: Alright, looks good. Take it away.**


	2. Prolouge

**Amy Rosaldin: To Catch A Prince**

**Prologue**

**Emeralds in the Ruff**

Snively was riding a camel in the middle of the desert country of Agras. He was enjoying the prospect of his destination so much, that he started humming a tune. Then, without any real warning, he stopped humming and started singing, up until he reached his destination.

Oh, I come from a land,

From a faraway place,

Where the robotic raiders roam.

Where it's flat and immense,

And the heat is intense,

It's barbaric, but hey it's home.

Where the wind is from the east,

And the sun is from the west,

And the sand and the glass is bright.

Come on down, stop on by,

Hop a Chaos and fly,

Through another Ar-Ray-Mobian night!

Ar-Ray-Mobian NI-I-IGHTS,

Like Ar-Ray-Mobian DA-A-AYS,

More often than not,

Are hotter than not,

In a lot of good WA-A-AYS!

Ar-Ray-Mobian NI-I-IGHTS,

'Neath Ar-Ray-Mobian MOO-OO-OONS,

A fool off his guard,

Could fall and fall hard,

Out there on the du-unes.

Snively jumped off his camel, which promptly collapsed from exhaustion, upon entering the town. He then noticed a man nearby who had been listening to the song for as long as Snively had been in hearing range. "Ah, hello and good evening to you," Snively said to the man. "Please come here; are you new in town?" The man nodded. "Well," Snively continued, "allow me to welcome you to Agras-Ray-Mobia, which in the native tongue translates to Backland of Mobius. And it is rightly named, for in this modern age of intergalactic space travel, this is one of the wildest, most primitive cities left on Mobius, despite being the capital of Agras. Indeed, this entire country, but Agras-Ray-Mobia especially, has a greater reputation for mystery than technology, although we do still have plenty of technology here.

"Perhaps you would be interested-ˮ Snively jumped over to his camel, grabbed a pack, and rapidly assembled a tent-shop. "-in some of these ancient and/or mysterious Ar-Ray-Mobian artifacts, on sale today; stop on by." Seeing that the man was officially stunned, Snively began his sales pitch. "Look at this, yes, an ancient combination yucca and coffee maker designed to withstand the sands of time; it also makes chili and fries. And it will not break. It will not-ˮ _boing_ "It broke." Seeing that the man was still too shocked to process the fact that he was offering him duds, Snively tried again with another one. "Ooh, look at this one. This must be from the collection I recently inherited; I've never seen one of these intact before. This is the famous Dead Sea Tupperware; listen. _Pbbbt. _Ah, still good."

At this point, the man came to his senses and started to walk off disappointed, but Snively ran around in front of him and stopped him. "No, no, wait, don't go. I can see you are only interested in the exceptionally rare. I think you would find it most rewarding to consider this." Snively pulled out a light bulb that, oddly enough, was pitch black in color, so that it was impossible to look inside it. "Do not be fooled by its common-place appearance, for like most things in life, it is not what is outside but what is inside that counts." The man rolled his eyes and tried to walk around him, but Snively blocked his path and screeched out, "This is no ordinary light bulb. It once changed the lives of two young girls; young girls who, like this light bulb, were more than what they seemed." Snively glanced from side to side, then grinned slyly and added, "The Emeralds in the Ruff. Perhaps you would like to hear the tale?" The man shrugged. Taking that to be a "yes," Snively screwed the light bulb onto a strange looking flashlight and placed it under a small, holey bowl. "It begins on a dark night-" He turned on the flashlight, causing a small, artificial night sky filled with stars to appear. "-where a dark bat waits… with a dark purpose."

A female bat wearing a pink and purple jumpsuit stood on sand dune. A weasel wearing a cowboy hat came running up the dune to meet her. "You are late," Rouge said when Fang reached the top. "A thousand apologies, oh patient one," Fang replied. "You got it then?" Fang reached into the shirt he was wearing and pulled out half of a gold beetle saying, "I had to shoot a few witnesses, but I got it." Rouge reached out to grab the gold artifact but Fang pulled back his hand. "Ah, ah, ah, the gold?" "Beep." A small red flicky swooped down to snatch the artifact. "Trust me, my mercenary friend. You'll get what's coming to you." "Beepity beep. What's coming to you. Beep." "Ah!" Fang recoiled in shock. "A talking flicky!" "Actually, it's a chatter flicky. They aren't intelligent, they just repeat the last words they hear," Rouge corrected. "But enough small talk. Time to get to work."

Rouge pulled out another half-beetle and put the two together. There was a soft *click* and then the now whole gold beetle came to life, flying away in a flurry of gold sparks. "Quickly!" Rouge yelled grabbing Fang and spreading her wings. "We must follow the trail." She shot off, flying low over the dunes after the fast moving beetle, carrying Fang as she went and pursued by the chatter flicky. "Can't you go any faster? It's getting away!" Rouge gritted her teeth. "It would help if you weren't so darn heavy!"

Just as Rouge was beginning to wear down, the gold beetle split in half and the two pieces circled around a sand dune. The two pieces then attached themselves to the dune, the ground started shaking, and the sand dune that the gold pieces had landed on morphed in shape so as to look like the head of a lion, which opened its mouth revealing the cave within. "At last," Rouge said as she set down Fang and allowed the chatter flicky to perch on her shoulder, "after all my years of searching, I've found the Cave of Wonders." "Beep, beepity; Cave of Wonders." Fang, who had hidden himself behind Rouge, slowly poked his head around her. "By God!"

Rouge grabbed Fang with an insane look in her eyes. "Now remember; bring me the light bulb! The rest of the treasure is yours, but the bulb is mine." With that, Rouge put down Fang, and after ruffling himself from the indignity of being held, Fang turned toward the cave rubbing his hands greedily. "Beep, a lion, Beepity." Dropping the dumb animal act, the chatter flicky turned to Rouge and asked, "Geeze, where'd ya dig this bozo up?" Rouge shushed him, and they watched Fang approach the cave. However, before he had gone two steps into the cave's mouth, there was a loud roar, and Fang was blown out of the cave.

When he recovered, Fang realized that the lion was actually alive, or at least, a mystical trap of some sort, and it was looking at him. "WHO DISTURBS MY SLUMBER?" the lion bellowed. Thoroughly terrified, but afraid to run, Fang answered the lion, "It is I, Nack Weasly, known by many as Fang the Sniper." "KNOW THIS!" the lion boomed in reply. "ONLY THOSE DEEMED WORTHY WHILE KEEPING THEIR WORTH HIDDEN FAR WITHIN MAY ENTER HERE! AT THE CURRENT TIME IN HISTORY, ONLY TWO SUCH PEOPLE LIVE IN AGRAS; THE EMERALDS IN THE RUFF!"

Fang turned back to face Rouge and shrugged. But Rouge, simply said, "What are you waiting for? Go on!" So Fang allowed his greed to overwhelm his fear, and he again stepped up to the cave. Trembling, he slowly moved forward to put his foot down on the first stair in the cave. When nothing happened, he breathed a sigh of relief and readied himself to go inside, but then, the cave roared again. Fang screamed the loudest scream in his life and tried to escape, but the lion clamped its mouth shut, killing him instantly in its jaws. The lion then started to transform back into a sand dune, saying as it did so, "SEEK THEE OUT THE EMERALDS IN THE RUFF!" The last words echoed out into the night as the lion disappeared and the two pieces of gold tumbled off of the now ordinary looking sand dune.

The chatter flicky, who had been blown off his perch by the lion's roar, pulled himself out of a pile of sand. Coughing up sand, he picked up the gold pieces, yelling in fury as he did so. "I don't believe it! I just don't believe it! We're never going to get a hold of that stupid light bulb! Just forget it! Look at this; I'm so ticked off that I'm molting." The chatter flicky handed the gold beetle to Rouge, who calmly replied, "Patience, Elaso, patience. Fang was obviously less than worthy by the cave guardian's standards." "Oh, yeah, THERE'S a big surprise! In fact, I think I'm gonna have a heart attack and die from that surprise. What are we gonna do? We got a big problem here, a big-ˮ Rouge clamped a hand over Elaso's beak to get him to be quiet. "Yes. Only two of the people in Agras can enter the cave. I must find these two, these Emeralds in the Ruff."


	3. Plant Rat and Road Hog

**CRC: Before publishing this chapter, I would like to make a short apology to any fans of Princess Sally. Amy wrote this, and we all know how she feels about people who get between her and Sonic. At first I was going to change the character, but after a swift run through the list, I could not think of anyone more appropriate to play the part, except maybe the Iron Queen, but that would be creepy. I'm open to suggestions on that point. But if I do change the character, please don't tell Amy I edited the story.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter One<strong>

**Plant Rat and Road Hog**

"Stop, thief!" Cosmo, a female Seedrian wearing the rags of a poor person, screeched to a halt as she reached the edge of a building. She just barely managed to avoid dropping her recently robbed food as she turned to face her pursuers: General Robotnik and four Swatbots. "I'll have you robotisized, Plant Rat," Robotnik called to her as he pulled out a laser pistol. Cosmo looked at what she'd stolen. "All this over a loaf of bread?" And with that she turned around and laughed insanely as she leaped off the building.

Cosmo did not accelerate as quickly as other creatures due to the remarkably low weight of Seedrian females, of which she was considered lighter than most. Even so, she still found herself falling at an uncomfortable speed. She grabbed on to a hanging clothes line on her way down, and used it as a zip line until she ran out of rope and slammed into a wall. She then fell to the ground in a heap of clothes just barely managing to catch the bread, which she had lost her grip on, before it hit the ground. She looked up to see Robotnik screaming out, "Gah, you won't get away so easy!" "Man, you think that was easy?" she muttered.

Since Robotnik had lost track of her, Cosmo made a disguise for herself using the clothes she'd knocked off of the line. Just then she saw Robotnik running down a staircase and an increasing number of Swatbots nearby. Robotnik was barking out his usual orders. "Spread out and search; we'll find that Plant Rat." Cosmo immediately rushed over to join a small crowd of Seedrians who were giggling at her. "Hey, guys!" One of the Seedrians bent down to her and whispered, "You and that Rosaldin girl seem to be getting into trouble a little early today, eh?" Cosmo laughed half-heartedly. "Trouble? No way. You're only in trouble if you get caught." "Gotcha!" Cosmo was flipped around to face Robotnik. "I'm in trouble!" Robotnik laughed in her face. "You've got that right, and this time-ˮ _Wham! _A hammer clunked against Robotnik's head causing him to drop Cosmo and fall to the ground unable to say anything more than "Not again."

Cosmo turned to face the pink hedgehog in equally ragged clothing holding the hammer. "Perfect timing, Amy." Amy shrugged. "Of course it was; it always is." Amy pointed her hammer at Cosmo. "How did you let them spot you this time?" "Tell ya later, run now." The two of them turned and ran as a groggy Robotnik yelled (or at least tried to yell), "There they go! Swatbots, get them, priority one!" "Priority one, Plant Rat and Road Hog. Detain by order of Robotnik, General of his royal majesty King Charles Sire."

In the following musical scene, the lines in parenthesis state what is going on while the music is playing. All future musical scenes will be structured like this.

Cosmo: One jump ahead of the bread line,

(Cosmo bumps into a Swatbot, barely avoiding getting shot while Amy gets behind it.)

Amy: One swing ahead of the hoard,

(Amy smashes the Swatbot's head in with her hammer.)

Amy and Cosmo: We steal only what we can't afford.

(Cosmo kicks the bot into some nearby fish and adds, "That's everything.")

Amy: One jump ahead of the lawman,

(Amy and Cosmo are stopped by another Swatbot.)

Cosmo: That's all and that's no joke,

(Cosmo barely manages to jump over an incoming laser blast.)

Amy: These guys don't appreciate we're broke.

(Amy runs on top of some barrels pursued by Swatbots and drops one on them.)

Swatbot #1: Riff-raff!

(The singing Swatbot is covered with juice from the barrel and is waving a fist angrily.)

Swatbots #2-3: Plant Rat!

(These Swatbots start charging their guns.)

Swatbot #4 (unseen): Road Hog!

(Cosmo and Amy run up a small unfinished building and Amy just barely avoids laser fire.)

(Amy takes the bread from Cosmo and leans off the side holding it out)

Amy: Just a little snack, guys.

(Cosmo pulls Amy out of the way just as the Swatbots fire again.)

Swatbots: Rip them open,

Take it back guys.

(The Swatbots use their strength to shake the structure.)

Cosmo: I can take a hint,

(Cosmo jumps off the structure dragging Amy with her while Amy screams "Warn me first.)

Gotta face the facts,

(Amy uses her hammer to swing on a bar, hanging onto Cosmo as she did so.)

My only friend is you.

(They land in the upstairs portion of a bar and Cosmo points to Amy as she says her line.)

Rowdy Customers: Who?

(The bar's criminal customers look at the newcomers.)

It's that darn Rosaldin and the thief girl.

(Their curious stares turn to glares, and they raise their glasses in unanimous jealousy.)

They've become the most wanted of thieves.

(Cosmo starts grabbing some fruit.)

Bartender: That title should belong to a better criminal.

(The bartender tries to force them out of the bar.)

Amy: Gotta eat to live,

(She shrugs.)

Cosmo: Gotta steal to eat,

(She drops the fruit, but maintains hold on the bread while dodging the bartender.)

We can't help it if that makes guards peeved.

(Cosmo pulls Amy out another window with Amy yelling, "Cosmo!")

(Cosmo and Amy bounce off an overhanging canvas and split up.)

Amy (unseen): One jump ahead of the slow pokes.

(Robotnik and several Swatbots run past a muscle man.)

One skip ahead of my doom,

(Amy is shown mirroring the movements of the muscle man to hide.)

Next time I'm gonna use an _en la plume_.

(Amy shifts the wrong way, and starts running as Robotnik turns around and yells, "There she is!")

Cosmo: One jump ahead of the hit men,

(Cosmo is shown jumping on top of herds of sheep.)

One hit ahead of the flock,

(Several Swatbots are pushing aside sheep in order to avoid hitting them with their guns.)

I think I'll take a stroll around the block.

(Cosmo leaves the sheep behind and jumps over an open electric stream. Three Swatbots successfully jump over it, but the last trips and is fried.)

Swatbot #5 (unseen): Stop, thief!

(Cosmo grabs some jewels and tries them on.)

Jewel Store Owner: Vandal!

(The owner tries to take back a jeweled necklace around Cosmo's neck.)

Amy: Cosmo!

(Amy meets up with Cosmo, and angrily yanks her away from the jeweler, snapping the necklace in the process.)

Woman #1: Scandal!

(Amy and Cosmo run into a trap set by Swatbots and are surrounded with guns pointed at them.)

Amy: Let's not be too hasty.

(A door in the wall behind them opens, and a big fat man pops out and raps his arms around them.)

Big Fat Man: Still I think their rather tasty!

(Amy and Cosmo pull away disgusted while the Swatbots get over their surprise.)

Amy: Gotta eat to live,

Cosmo: Gotta steal to eat,

(Amy and Cosmo put their rest their elbows on Swatbots on opposite sides of the trap as if they were being friendly.)

Amy and Cosmo: Otherwise we'd all get along.

Swatbots: Wrong!

(The Swatbots open fire, but when the smoke clears, the two that Amy and Cosmo were next to are destroyed, and they are nowhere to be seen.)

(Instrumental)

Around that time, General Robotnik noticed a couple of pots moving. Although his Swatbots were dumb enough to overlook them, he was not. "They're in those pots; get them!" Amy and Cosmo threw the pots off their heads and started running at top speed.

Cosmo used her high jumping abilities to jump over a pile of sticky goop while Amy used her hammer to swing on a bar over it. Robotnik and several Swatbots tried to run through it. Remarkably, they managed to get out sticky, ugly, and furious but without slowing down.

Not long after that, Cosmo noticed a place that sold toy guns that looked realistic. Moving towards it, she swiped one quicker than the eye can see then turned back and confronted Robotnik and the Swatbots. At the sight of the gun, Robotnik and the Swatbots came to a stop and one bot exclaimed, "She's got a gun!" "That's right and I'm not afraid to use it," Cosmo replied. "Back! Back!" But Robotnik simply turned back to the cowering Swatbots and said, "You idiots! We've all got guns!" Robotnik pulled out a laser pistol, and all the Swatbots followed suit. Cosmo immediately dropped the toy and resumed running.

However, when Cosmo found Amy again, she was running from guards in the opposite direction. Both sides were firing their lasers at them. Amy, however, ran up to Cosmo, pulled her down, and let the Swatbots hit each other with a few blasts, resulting in enough confusion for them to escape the trap.

(End of Instrumental)

Cosmo: One jump ahead of the heart beat,

Swatbots: Road Hog!

(Cosmo and Amy get cut off by Swatbots and start running in a different direction.)

Amy: One hop ahead of the hunt,

Swatbots: Plant Rat!

(They get cut off again, and start running up a staircase.)

Cosmo: One trick ahead of disaster,

Swatbots: Get them!

(Cosmo, who's ahead of Amy, gets stopped by Swatbots right in front of her.)

Amy: They're quick but we're much faster,

Swatbots: Take that!

(Amy grabs Cosmo's hand and dives through a window with her just before the Swatbots fire.)

Cosmo: Here goes,

(Cosmo grabs a carpet and winks at Amy who rolls her eyes.)

Amy: Thanks for the warning,

(Cosmo waves at Robotnik and the oncoming Swatbots.)

Cosmo: Wish us happy landing,

(Cosmo grabs Amy's hand and runs to a nearby window.)

All we gotta do is juuummmp!

(Cosmo and Amy jump out the window clinging to each other and using the carpet as a parachute. Robotnik tries to stop, but his foolish Swatbots push him forward and they end up falling out the window… and into a cartload of manure.)

(End of Song)

Cosmo and Amy floated down into an alley. After landing, Amy turned to Cosmo and said, "Ya' know, if it wasn't empty, my stomach would be really upset after all those jumps." Cosmo shrugged. "Maybe it would be but it's not." "True," Amy replied. "In that case, I'd say that it's time we feast." Cosmo produced the bread loaf and gave half of it to Amy.

Before either of them had taken a bite, however, Amy noticed a pair of homeless children digging through garbage for food. Cosmo, recognizing the look in Amy's eyes started complaining, "Oh, no, not this time." Amy looked at Cosmo incredulously. "Those children could easily die without a decent meal." "Yeah well (1 this isn't exactly a decent meal, and (2 I haven't eaten in two days because of things like this." Amy could barely keep her temper in check. "Cosmo Oak, just look at them. Can you, in good conscious, eat this food while they starve?"

Cosmo looked at the children, and then back at the bread. "No," she finally said. "But right now, my stomach is in control. I'll worry about my conscious later." And with that Cosmo hurriedly stuffed a large bite of bread into her mouth. Amy glared at Cosmo, but she knew that the children might leave if she didn't hurry over to them.

The older of the two children pushed the younger behind her protectively. Amy held out the bread. "Here. Go on, take it." Tentatively the nearest child reached out and took the bread. And then they smiled and hugged Amy. Cosmo watched all of this as she swallowed the bite of bread in her mouth. She looked back at the barely eaten loaf in her hand. "Oh, who am I kidding?" she asked herself. "I can't do this." She walked over to the children and handed them the remainder of her bread. "Please take it before I come to my senses." The children took the bread and hugged her too.

Just then, music sounded and Cosmo noticed a crowd on the edge of the main street. Amy was already walking over to see what the fuss was about, so Cosmo and the two children hurried to catch up. There was a limousine coming down the street. The driver of the limousine was a richly dressed coyote; however, the back of the limousine was one-way glass. Even so, it was not hard to determine that whoever was inside was someone important from a distant land.

As they got closer, Cosmo and Amy overheard a couple men in the middle of a conversation. "-on their way to the palace, I suppose," one of them said. "Another princess come to try and charm the prince," the other replied, clearly tired of all the foreign princesses who had come to Agras-Ray-Mobia lately.

Just then, the two children ran out into the street playfully chasing each other. "No!" Cosmo yelled running after them. "Don't go out there!" But by the time she caught up with them, all three of them were directly in the path of the slow moving limousine. The coyote (Antoinne) leaned out of the window with a whip and yelled, "Get out of zee princess's way, you filzy urchins!"

However, before the whip could land a blow, Amy intercepted it and grabbed it, yelling as she did, "Hey! If I represented a princess, I could afford some manners," and with that, she yanked the whip out of Antoinne's hand. The children quickly ran off, and Antoinne scoffed. "I'll teach you some mannerz!" The limousine swerved, and before they knew what was happening, Amy and Cosmo were covered in mud and the crowd was laughing at them, even though they had just saved two children.

Amy's blood was boiling. "Look at that, Cosmo. It's not every day you see a rich snob who's willing to get her limo muddy." The crowd gasped at this remark and Antoinne stopped the limo and poked his head out of the window, his face pink with embarrassment and rage. However, before he could say anything, a window in the back of the limousine rolled down and a voice said, "Keep driving Antoinne."

A female squirrel of obvious royal upbringing looked out the window and faced the two girls laughing lightly. "A fine attempt at an insult, one that would work against most people in my profession." Princess Sally (for it was her) slowly twisted her face and tone of voice. "But I know better than to listen to insults hurled at me from your type. I am rich, powerful, and royal; at my command, my guards could have you killed. You, and the other hand, are a pair of worthless, homeless peasants; a plant rat and a road hog. You were born that way, you'll die that way, and only your fleas-" Princess Sally looked purposefully at Cosmo before adding, "or in your case, termites will morn your passing."

In a rage, Amy jumped up, grabbed her hammer and charged towards the limo. However, her hammer collided with wood that might as well have been metal as the gigantic gate to the palace slammed shut blocking her way. Cosmo had gotten up and was uncharacteristically angry. "We're not worthless," Amy muttered, perfectly aware that the princess couldn't hear her. "And we don't have fleas." "Or termites," Cosmo added bitterly.

Amy's mood slowly changed from anger to sadness. "Come on Cosmo. Let's go home." When they had gone some distance, Amy began to sing slowly and sadly.

Road Hog

Plant Rat

(Cosmo and Amy reach their home.)

I don't buy that.

(Cosmo starts to tuck herself into her "bed" seeing as she's extremely tired.)

If only they'd look closer.

(Despite the sad nature of it, the song starts to put Cosmo to sleep.)

Would they see a poor girl? No siree.

(Amy pulls back a curtain and looks at the palace.)

They'd find out there's so much more to me.

Failing to notice that Cosmo is now asleep, Amy ends the song and says, "Some day, Cosmo, thing are gonna change. We'll be rich, live in a palace, and never have any troubles at all.


	4. A Prince and a Plot

**Same apology as last chapter. Still willing to take suggestions.- C. Richard Crawg**

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><p><strong>Chapter 2<strong>

**A Prince and a Plot**

The next day, the door to the palace courtyard was thrown open and Princess Sally came storming through. "I have never been so insulted!" King Charles Sire, who had been waiting by the door to hear how things went, jumped up in alarm and asked, "You're not leaving so soon, are you?" Just as he said the last two words, the king noticed that the back of the princess's skirt had been torn off and her underwear was showing. "Good luck getting a wife for him!" King Sire shuddered and turned towards the courtyard. "Sonic."

The king rushed out into the courtyard. "Sonic! Sonic! Son-" The king was cut off as he tripped over the snoozing form of the prince's bodyguard. The fox awoke with a start as the king noticed the fabric he had been using as a pillow and yelled, "Confound it, Miles!" King Sire grabbed at the fabric and tried to tear it away from the fox, who held on stubbornly. "No, no, wait a minute. Let me-" At that point the fabric tore. The king examined the half he had procured before angrily turning to Miles and yelling, "So, _this_ is why Princess Sally Acorn stormed out!"

"Don't blame Tails, Chuck." The king turned around to see his son, Prince Sonic, standing behind him. "He was only following my orders." Sonic grinned at Tails. "And might I add, you did an outstanding job." Tails grinned until he noticed the death stare King Sire was giving his son, and realized that he, that is Tails, was in deeper trouble than the prince. Tails quickly adopted a humble attitude, bowing down before the king. "Forgive me, your majesty. I shouldn't have gone along." The king's gaze softened somewhat. "Rise, Miles. You need not be afraid. I know who the troublemaker is in all of this." Tails stood up and took his place beside Sonic who had gone to sit by the fountain.

"Sonic," King Sire said, "you've got to stop rejecting every princess who comes to call. The law says 'You must be married to-" Sonic cut him off and finished the sentence himself. "-a princess before I can become the new king.' Yes, Chuck, I know, and frankly I think the law is a load of crap." King Sire scowled at Sonic. It was bad enough that Sonic constantly referred to him as "Chuck" but he also hated it when Sonic cut him off or claimed that the law, as it currently existed, was stupid.

Sonic ignored the scowl on his father's face and continued. "Frankly, the idea of getting married isn't appealing to me, especially not to some pompous, arrogant, spoiled princess that I don't know and don't care to know. I want to avoid getting married if I can, and marry for love if I can't. The bottom line is, I'll marry who I want, when I want, assuming I want to."

"Sonic, that law was made by our ancestors with good reasons," the king said in an attempt to show his son that the law was not "a load of crap." "You need to make certain you can have an heir of your own before assuming the throne. You also need to be certain to marry a person of royalty from another nation to insure peace with that nation during your reign. And although I don't want to rush you, I'm getting old. If I die and you haven't married, the throne will go to your brother, Prince Manic." Tails giggled. "That spoiled pig? I think the king may be right after all Sonic." Tails fell silent when he saw that both the king and the prince were glaring at him.

Sonic turned to his father and said, "You have a point about my brother, but please try to see it from my point of view. Manic squanders all the money you give him, and has absolutely no idea what it means to take responsibility for himself, yet he is allowed to travel the world and hang out with all sorts of rich snobs like himself and that princess I just refused. By contrast I have slaved here my whole life learning politics, military strategy, morality, economy, etc., etc., etc. without any friends by my side."

Sonic stopped as he noticed Tails hanging his head sadly. "-with exception to my loyal and devoted bodyguard Miles Prower who is the brother to me that Manic never was." Tails raised his head and smiled proudly while Sonic continued. "The point is, I have done all the work and Manic has gotten almost all the reward. I've never even been allowed to journey through Agras-Ray-Mobia; I've been in here."

The king sighed and replied, "I understand Sonic, I really do, but if I were to give Manic no more than he deserved then all the other nations would assume that I was too poor to support him and greedy kings would declare war on us in order to take Agras for themselves. As for your own life, you are the heir to the throne and there are people out in the world who would love to see you assassinated." At this Sonic turned around and snapped back, "I've mastered every form of combat training you've forced me to learn. If you still fear letting me leave because I could be assassinated because I'm the heir to the throne, then maybe I don't want to be the heir to the throne!" King Sire turned around and stormed back into the palace yelling out as he did so, "God forbid your children should inherit your stubbornness!"

A few moments later, King Sire entered his throne room furiously muttering to himself. "I don't know where he gets it from. _I_ certainly wasn't opposed to marriage." The king started playing with a model of Agras-Ray-Mobia in order to calm down when he noticed a dark shadow had covered him. He smiled, though, when he looked up. "Rouge, my most trusted advisor; I am in desperate need of your wisdom" Rouge smiled charmingly and bowed. "My life is but to serve you my lord." "It's this whole princess thing," the king replied quickly. "Sonic absolutely refuses to choose a wife. He's getting more disrespectful and outspoken with every princess who comes here. I'm at my whit's end."

Elaso piped up at this point. "Beepity, whit's end, beep." King Sire, noticing this chuckled and pulled out a tiny, bird-sized chili dog. "Pretty Poly, have a chili dog." Elaso desperately tried to avoid it, but the king stuffed it into his mouth. Rouge laughed lightly. "His majesty certainly has a way with dumb animals." Elaso glared at Rouge but she ignored him.

"Now then," Rouge said slowly, "perhaps I can divine a solution to this forlorn problem." "If anyone can help, it's you," the king chuckled. "But," Rouge continued, "it would require the use of a certain mystic blue emerald."

King Sire immediately grew cautious. "You mean the power ring I wear on my pinky don't you? But I can't let you use it Rouge; it's been in the royal house for years. If anything were to happen to it, I'd bring great shame to my forefathers." Rouge eyed her staff, the top of which had the head and wings of a dragon. "I understand your concern, but it's necessary to find a princess that your son simply cannot resist.

"Don't worry,-" Rouge lowered the staff towards the king so that the dragon's eyes were staring into his. "-everything will be fine." Those words seemed to echo in the king's mind. "Yes everything will be fine." Of course it would be fine, how could it not? "The emerald?" "Here you are, Rouge," King Sire said pulling off the ring. "Whatever you need will be fine." Rouge quickly grabbed the ring saying, "You are most gracious my liege. Now, run along and play with your little toys. "Yes," the king said, still entranced. "That would be pretty good."

Once they were a safe distance from the king, Elaso dropped his dumb animal act and violently spat out the chili dog. "I can't take it anymore. If I have to choke down on one more of those disgusting, greasy chili dogs, _bam, whap,_" he said making punching motions in the air. Rouge opened the entrance to her secret laboratory and started walking up the staircase. "Calm yourself, Elaso," she replied grinning. "Soon I shall be in charge, not that addlebrained twit." "And then, I'll feed him bird seed, haha!" And with that the door slammed shut behind them.

* * *

><p>That night, Prince Sonic put his training to the test, successfully sneaking past all of the palace guards and servants without being spotted and getting into the courtyard. Sonic stared at the wall. For a long time he had wanted to see if he could run over it to the world beyond, but he had always listened to his father's advice. Not this time, though; this time he was going to run away.<p>

As Sonic backed up for his run however, he felt someone grab his arm. So much for getting out unnoticed. Sonic whirled around to see his bodyguard, Tails, standing behind him. "You don't really want to do this, Sonic; you're just angry. Your father will see reason if you just speak with him." "No he won't, Tails, and I can't just stay here waiting to get married and performing useless drills. I have to get out. I have to see what lies beyond the gate."

Tails stared at Sonic a moment longer and then said, "Then I'm coming with you." "No," Sonic replied. "If my father finds out you approved of this, he'll kick you onto the streets, or worse; you could be robotisized. Stay here. Claim that I deceived you or that I overpowered you." "At least let me help you over the wall," Tails replied showing off his tails. Sonic thought for a moment and then nodded. "Very well."

Tails grabbed the young prince and started spinning his tails. He flew up over the wall and dropped Sonic off on the other side. "Thank you, my brother," Sonic said, giving Tails a small hug. "Now get back in there before they find out you had a part in this. And promise you won't follow me. This is something I must do alone." Tails made the promise and left Sonic hoping that he had made the right decision.

* * *

><p>The next day, Amy and Cosmo were sitting on top of a small market tent readying their next caper. "Ok, Amy, go!" Cosmo said excitedly. Amy saluted and poked her head under the tent. A merchant was trying to sell watermelons. Amy grabbed one of the watermelons saying "Ooh, this looks good." The merchant turned toward her and, seeing that she had grabbed a watermelon without paying for it, attempted to grab it back. However, while his back was turned, Cosmo reached down and stealthily grabbed a watermelon from the other side of the tent. Amy then released the one she had grabbed apologizing profusely and went back on top of the tent. "Nice going, Amy," Cosmo said cracking open the watermelon. Amy licked her lips. "Breakfast is served."<p>

At that same moment not far away, Sonic was walking through the city looking at the merchants with intrigue. "Would you like to buy a pot? No finer pot in brass or silver!" "Sugar dates! Sugar dates and beans! Sugar dates and pistachios!" "Would the handsome man care to buy this skillfully made sword? They are still a useful weapon to have in Agras." "FRESH FISH! We catch 'em, you buy 'em!"

At this last stand, Sonic was so surprised that he jumped back quickly, ready for danger. Unfortunately, he accidently backed into a young performing dragon who immediately coughed up a fire ball. At this point his hood fell back, and for a moment, his crown was visible. He quickly pulled it back up while apologizing to the dragon and hoping that no one had noticed.

As it turns out, no one had noticed the crown, but someone had noticed him. When Amy saw the face of the handsome blue hedgehog she was entranced. She had never seen a male so appealing to the eye that lived in the market; for that matter she'd never even heard of it except maybe in fairy tales.

It didn't take long for Cosmo to notice that Amy was staring at a guy. "Oh, no. We made a pact when we first started out; no guys." Amy jumped startled. "Huh?" "Don't think I didn't see you admiring that fairly handsome hedgehog over there. Let me say it right now; we agreed that guys would put a cramp in our style. We can do without them. Besides, men like that in a marketplace always mean trouble. Just keep eating."

Amy knew or, at least, believed that Cosmo was right. Nonetheless, her eyes drifted back to Sonic, and as she did so, she witnessed something cute and kind immediately followed by something chilling. At the tent next to the one she and Cosmo were resting on, Sonic had noticed a young, homeless and hungry boy who was unable to reach the apples the man at the tent was selling. As Sonic saw this he was sad for the boy. He took one of the apples and handed it to the boy who smiled gratefully and then skipped away happily.

However, as Sonic turned around to see more of the market, he heard a voice behind him say, "You'd better be able to pay for that." Sonic turned back to face the shop owner, very surprised. "Pay?" He had forgotten about that altogether. "No one steals from my shop!" Sonic noticed that not only the owner but also several brutes were closing in on him. Sonic realized then that, for the first time in his life, he was in genuine danger. Trying to remain calm he said, "I'm sorry, sir. I don't have any money with me, but-ˮ "Thief!"

The shop owner lunged at Sonic, who easily managed to avoid him. However, Sonic's training up until this point had always been one on one, and as such, he was unable to defend himself against the brutes that had surrounded him. One of them caught him and brought him to the storeowner.

Sonic did his best to remain calm and said, "Listen; I'm sorry about the apple, but if you'll let me go to the king, I'm sure he'll compensate for it." But the storeowner ignored him, believing that he was just making lame excuses, and lifting a knife high above Sonic's left arm, he asked, "Do you know what the punishment for stealing is?"

At this point Amy was done watching; she had to do something about this. She jumped off of the tent being pursued by Cosmo, who was trying to get her to stop without attracting attention to them. But Amy just ran right into the middle of the circle of brutes and grabbed the knife to keep the storeowner from using it saying, "Oh, thank you, kind gentlemen. I was afraid he might get into some sort of trouble." She then turned to Sonic and added sternly, "I've been looking all over for you."

Sonic, who felt like he was going to be humiliated even more than he already was, whispered, "Who are you?" But Amy only said, "Just play along." The storeowner was shocked at Amy's intrusion and obliviousness to what was going on. "You know this boy?" was all he could think to say. Amy in turn took up an expression of pity. "Sadly, yes. He is my brother. He hasn't been right in the head since mom and dad died, you know what I mean?"

Meanwhile, Cosmo was making her way through the crowd, taking advantage of Amy's act to pick pocket the people watching. However, she found herself drawn in when she heard the next part of the conversation. "He said he knew the king!" "(Giggle) Sir, he thinks my friend, that Seedrian over there, is the king." Cosmo immediately pulled her hand out of some man's pocket hoping no one noticed. At the same time, Sonic, although he was indignant at being called insane, knew his life could depend on him playing his part. "O, great king," he said, bowing down to Cosmo, "how might I serve you?"

It was at this point that Cosmo decided she liked this. "Well, for starters, you can tell me where my good clothes are. I told you to wash them hours ago." Amy stepped in between the two and pretended to chastise Cosmo. "Stop it, Rosear. You know that encouraging him is not helping his therapy. Just for that, you can pay for the apple he took." Amy said this, because she didn't have any money she could use to appease the shop owner, and she knew Cosmo had grabbed a lot of coins from the people in the crowd. Cosmo glared at her for a second before paying the storeowner for the apple.

"There," Amy said cheerily, "No harm, no foul. Now come along, dear brother, you have to see the doctor again today." Sonic allowed Amy to guide him. When he saw a blind beggar he stopped and said, "Oh, hello doctor." "No, no, no," Amy said pushing him forward. "Not that one." Turning back to Cosmo who had resumed pulling things out of the crowd's pockets, she added, "Come on, your highness." "Yes, of course," Cosmo replied with exaggerated grandeur. "Where would my servant be without his king?"

Before Cosmo had finished speaking, someone noticed that the bracelet she was wearing belonged to the said someone. "Thief!" she yelled trying to grab the bracelet. As Cosmo dodged her, some other articles flew out her pockets. Amy rushed back to Cosmo and grabbed her hand. "Time to run." Swatbots appeared where they were going. "Time to run the other way." Sonic moved between them, grabbing their hands and yelling, "Did you say 'run'?" Sonic started pulling them along at amazing speeds.

"Turn left here! Gah, blocked! Go up that staircase! Not that one; the other one!" Sonic ran willy-nilly trying to follow Cosmo's directions until he found himself on the edge of a building. "Now what?" Amy glared at Cosmo. "Let me guess. Jump time?" Cosmo grabbed both of them by the waste and pulled them over the edge laughing insanely. They bounced off of three tents, went around two corners and into a dark alleyway before coming to a halt.

Amy's glare became even fiercer. "A simple 'yes' before the jump would be appreciated." But Sonic didn't notice Amy's anger at Cosmo. He simply collapsed to the ground laughing. "That. Was. Awesome!" Both Amy and Cosmo raised their eyebrows at him. "I am sorry," Sonic said standing up. "It's just that I've never had that much fun."

* * *

><p>It was late when General Robotnik came into the secret laboratory and Rouge was not happy about it. "What took you so long? I sent for you this time yesterday!... And what's that smell?" Robotnik grimaced. He had done everything he could think of to remove the smell of the manure from two days before, but nothing had worked. "I don't know," he replied. "As for why I didn't get here sooner, it was just a little trouble with Plant Rat and Road Hog." Elaso started laughing. "Oh sure, that's a great excuse. You had trouble with the thieves for an entire day's worth of time, but of course it was just a little trouble."<p>

General Robotnik ignored Elaso and turned to Rouge. "I assume you called me here for a reason?" Rouge nodded. "There's been a slight but manageable kink in our plans. I need to use the emerald ring to find a couple of people that can enter the cave: the Emeralds in the Ruff."

Robotnik groaned. "Oh, no. You want me to hook up the machine again. You do realize that thing is made from so much scrap, I'm surprised it's held up this long. Come on, please, just this once, couldn't we wait for a real storm?" Rouge shook her head. "Time is of the essence General. Unless, of course, you'd rather spend the rest of your life chasing petty criminals."

Almost instantaneously, Robotnik got to work, flipping switches and tightening bolts on the machine while Rouge inserted the royal emerald ring. The machine groaned and clanked and sizzled as it started to produce lightning. One of the bolts struck the emerald and activated its magic, causing the sand in an hourglass underneath the emerald to shift into the same shape as the Cave of Wonders.

"Sands of Time, reveal to me the ones who may enter the cave!" At Rouge's command the sand started spinning. In the mist of the miniature sandstorm, an irritated Seedrian and a hedgehog oblivious to its companion's irritation could be made out. "Yes," Rouge said with a crazed look in her eye. "Yes, there they are, my Emeralds in the Ruff." "That's them?" Robotnik yelled indignantly. "Plant Rat and Road Hog are-ˮ Just then the machine started to break down. Robotnik and Elaso started panicking, but Rouge was completely oblivious as the machine exploded on her companions. "Let's have the Swatbots extend them an invitation to the palace. Shall we?" she asked turning to her fried associates. Robotnik just stood where he was looking dumbfounded. Elaso answered for both of them before falling to the ground; "Swell (cough)."


	5. Interview with Cariin

Interview with…

_Amy: And now-_

Cosmo: -a word-

Cream: -from our sponsor.

**C. Richard Crawg: Thanks girls. Hey, C. Richard Crawg here, and now I… well, I was scheduled to have an interview with the Phantom Fox from the Avatar of the 8 series with me, but he didn't show up and instead I have one of the other character's, Cariin, in the studio. Cariin, would you mind explaining why you're here instead of the Phantom Fox?**

**Cariin: Hello Mr. Crawg. Yes, the Phantom Fox wanted to come, but he was afraid he might accidently blurt out his secret identity during this interview, so he asked me to come here in his place and apologize.**

**CRC: So, that's it? There's no interview?**

**Cariin: No, no, no, you misunderstand, the Phantom Fox asked me to come here in his place.**

**CRC: Oh, so I'm supposed to interview you instead?**

**Cariin: Yes, that's what I'm trying to say. Is there something wrong with that?**

**CRC: Well, it's just that I was all prepared to interview the Phantom Fox; now I'm not sure where to start. Ummm, I guess a good place to start would be to ask why you think the Phantom Fox chose you to replace him for this interview; after all, if the narrator can't make it, you'd think he'd choose the main character to replace him, and you're, uh, not the main character.**

**Cariin: No, I'm not. The main character is Avatar Pela-Na. Actually, I'm one of the lesser characters to start but that changes as the story continues.**

**CRC: Oh, really? How so?**

**Cariin: Well, my appearances in the story are sparse, at first, but in time I start popping up more and more, and… well, let's just say by the last book, I am definitely one of the big shot heroes, though I certainly wouldn't have expected it before the Avatar showed up on my farm.**

**CRC: Why not? Were you in favor of the Dai Li? **

**Cariin: No way! I hated the Dai Li, but I'm not a warrior; I didn't think I could make much of a difference in the world, so I just farmed and passed on messages for the rebellion.**

**CRC: Ah, but you did pass on these messages, so you were already involved.**

**Cariin: Barely and I wasn't in very deep at all. Really, I was using the whole passing-on-messages thing as an excuse to hear news about the war.**

**CRC: Okay; so, what changed?**

**Cariin: Well, like I said before, Pela-Na and her friends showed up at my farm.**

**CRC: That's it? They just came in out of nowhere? That sounds like way too simple an explanation.**

**Cariin: Ahahahaha! Out of nowhere? More like into nowhere! After all, that's where I lived; on a farm out in the middle of nowhere several miles from the nearest town and a hundreds of miles from the nearest city. Actually I knew they were coming beforehand due to my involvement in rebellion communications, but they, that is the rebels, didn't really know whether or not one of them was the Avatar.**

**CRC: Why not? Hadn't she told anyone?**

**Cariin: Are you nuts? They were in the Earth Empire! If Pela-Na came out and said "I'm the Avatar," every soldier, every bounty hunter, every Dai Li agent, and a third of what remained would be keeping an eye out to kill or capture her and claim a reward.**

**CRC: Well then, what was she doing in the Earth Empire in the first place? Wasn't Pela-Na born into the Northern Water Kingdom?**

**Cariin: Yes, but she had to learn Earth Bending somewhere. She thought the best way to find an Earth Bending Master would be to find the Phantom Fox.**

**CRC: Oh, I get it. The Phantom Fox was usually in the Earth Empire but was constantly fighting against it, so if anyone could get them in touch with an Earth Bender willing to train the Avatar, it would be the Fox. But if Pela-Na couldn't come out and say that she was the Avatar, how did she go about searching for him?**

**Cariin: Oho! Now that is a good question. Actually it was Pela-Na's friend, Thain, who came up with the plan they went with, but it was a really bad plan; they claimed to be bounty hunters out to collect the reward for killing the Phantom Fox.**

**CRC: GAHahahahahah! That sounds like a pretty dumb move to me!**

**Cariin: Yeah, tell me about it. Anyway, it seemed rather unlikely that a water bender, a void bender, an air bender, and a commoner would be bounty hunters, so everyone figured it out, including the Dai Li, who started following these "bounty hunters" so they could kill them and the Phantom Fox the moment they found him. Fortunately, they realized they were being followed, so they tried to shake the Dai Li by running out into vastly unpopulated areas of the Earth Empire.**

**CRC: Which is how they met you.**

**Cariin: Right. And after the Phantom Fox took care of the Dai Li agents following them, he left a trail to lead them to me, and I was supposed to find out if one of them was the Avatar or if they really were bounty hunters. My life was never the same after that.**

**CRC: Well, I'd love to continue this conversation, but Amy's glaring at me to remind me that our time's up. So, tell the Fox we missed him, and let's turn it over to the gals.**

Cream: And now-

Cosmo: -back to-

_Amy: -the show._


	6. He's the Prince?

**Chapter 3**

**He's the Prince?**

Sonic waited at the top of a wall while Amy and Cosmo climbed up the ladder behind him. Despite Cosmo's objections, they had offered to let Sonic spend the night with them. When Amy had almost reached the top, Sonic held out a hand to help her up. Cosmo watched while Sonic pulled Amy up, and then spitefully pushed Amy out of her way. However, this had quite the opposite effect Cosmo expected due to the fact that Sonic caught Amy under the assumption that she'd stumbled. For a brief moment they looked into each other's eyes. Cosmo coughed to remind them that she was still there. Sonic and Amy separated immediately while Sonic tried to think of a topic to talk about.

"I, uh, guess I haven't thanked you yet for helping me out back there," Sonic said, somewhat flustered. For certain, he had met many girls more beautiful than Amy, but they had all been spoiled princesses. "Oh, no don't mention it," Amy replied, equally scatterbrained.

Cosmo had moved over to the other side of the building, and had a pole in her hand ready to jump. She handed Amy a pole and pole-vaulted the gap between the building they were standing on and the next. "So," Amy said before following Cosmo's lead, "this is your first time in the marketplace, huh?" "Is it that obvious?" Sonic asked, slightly concerned but more amused. Amy picked up a board to place over the gap while Cosmo rolled her eyes. "Well you do kinda stand out." Sonic raised his eyebrow at Amy in order to hide his growing concern. "Stand out" was exactly what he didn't want to do. Amy, thinking that Sonic was getting suspicious, forced her eyes away from him and laid down the board saying, "I mean, uh, you don't seem to realize how dangerous Agras-Ray-Mobia can be." While she was talking, Sonic pole-vaulted over the gap. Amy and Cosmo whirled around in surprise as Sonic tossed the pole over to Amy. "I'm a fast learner." "I guess," Cosmo said, somewhat impressed, though still not happy.

Amy cleared her throat and moved ahead of Sonic. "This way." Amy led Sonic through the debris while Cosmo followed them. "Is this where you live?" Sonic asked upon noticing a small, cleared out area with some basic comforts. "Yup, just me and Cosmo. We come and go as we please." "That sounds fabulous," Sonic commented, remembering how he had never been able to come and go as he pleased.

"Well, it's not much," Amy replied, misinterpreting Sonic's statement. She pulled back a curtain revealing the palace towering over Agras-Ray-Mobia. "But it's got a great view," she said finishing her thought. Turning her attention to the castle she took in the view, content to share it with Sonic. "Wow, the palace looks really amazing, huh?" But of all the things Sonic was interested in, his former prison was not one of them. "Oh, it's cool," Sonic said dryly before turning away from the view. Not noticing Sonic's distaste at first, Amy continued to admire the sight. "I wonder what it would be like to live there; to have servants and valets."

Cosmo had been trying to ignore Sonic and Amy, grabbing an apple and preparing to eat. However, she stopped short in surprise when she heard Sonic snort. "Sure, people who tell you where to go and what to do." "Well that's better than here. Always scraping for food and ducking the guards." At the same time Amy said "scraping" she grabbed the apple in Cosmo's hand that she had been going to eat. Glaring, Cosmo went and got the only other apple they had. "You're not free to make your own choices," Sonic continued, talking more to himself than anyone else. "Sometimes you feel-ˮ "You're just-ˮ "Trapped!" Sonic and Amy turned toward each other in surprise realizing they had more in common than they'd known.

But Cosmo was only getting more suspicious. "(Cough) So, what about you?" Sonic turned to Cosmo as if just noticing her. "Huh, me?" "Uh, yeah, where are you from?" Amy added, using a shoulder trick Cosmo had taught her to take Cosmo's other apple and toss it to Sonic causing Cosmo's glare to intensify. "What does it matter?" Sonic asked, easily catching the apple. "I ran away and there's a growing chance that I won't go back." "Really? How come?" Amy asked, absentmindedly biting her apple then placing back in Cosmo's hands and moving over to Sonic. Cosmo's face turned red, and she motioned as though she was going to throw the apple at Amy, but she stopped herself and forced her mouth into a tight smile. Sonic didn't take notice of this. "I don't want to talk about it." "Most of the time, when someone says they don't want to talk about something, it means they should." Sonic smiled at that. "Point. Well, my father is… forcing me to get married within three days." Amy was shocked by this news. He was already engaged? "That's awful." Sonic's smile broadened. He had never met any girl who was genuinely kind.

Cosmo's suspicions were heightening, and even though she was trying to sneak around the two to swipe Sonic's apple, she just had to hear more. "Excuse me," she said as though she was confused, "but I thought that it was just women who suffer from arranged marriages these days." "Well, I'm not suffering from an arranged marriage, per se," Sonic responded. "However, if my father has his way, I'll have to choose someone from a very select category of spoiled pigs; a 'pick your poison' scenario." "I can see why you left," Amy said, grateful that she had never gone through such a thing. "It sounds like—Cosmo!"

Cosmo who had been about to swipe Sonic's apple finally couldn't hold her temper anymore. She yelled at Amy that that apple had been hers before Amy had handed it off to Sonic and that she was hungry and had to eat. However, she was so angry that she yelled in her native tongue—Seedriss. "ƝƌžƔ €ǎǃñƱ ¥ƌ€€ñí Ñƥƨƫ ȻȽȱɄ€ƌˮ Sonic raised an eyebrow, very surprised and confused. "What? What did she say?" Amy was blinking in surprise. "Uh, Cosmo, uh-ˮ Getting an idea she said, "-Cosmo said 'That's not fair.'" Now Cosmo was blinking. Technically, the first thing she said did translate as "That's not fair," but Amy had taken it way out of context.

Actually, Sonic knew this too. Although he wasn't well versed in Seedriss, he was able to understand "hungry" and "apple". "Oh, did she? And does 'Cosmo' have anything else she'd like to say?" Sonic asked tossing the apple to Cosmo (he wasn't that hungry anyway). "Well she offered to let you join us as part of the group, at least until your father wises up." Cosmo rolled her eyes and turned away biting into the apple. As for Sonic, he knew he couldn't stay for long, but he could hardly believe his luck, finding such a generous person so soon after running away. Pretty, too; at least as far as commoners went. "Tell her I'd like that."

Sonic didn't know what he was doing. He had the urge to kiss this girl. And why not? By the looks of things, it was what she wanted, and he would be hard pressed to ever find a princess of this quality. The two closed their eyes and started to move their lips closer to each other's.

"There you are!"

Everyone jumped. Making their way through the "hallway" to Amy and Cosmo's hideout were several Swatbots. "They're after me/us. They're after you?" they all yelled at the same time. The Swatbots started shooting at debris to get it out of their way. Cosmo tapped Amy and pointed down and out their "window". Sonic was muttering furiously when Amy interrupted him. "One day in the market and they've already-ˮ "Do you trust me?" Sonic turned to Amy surprised. "What?" Amy held out a hand to Sonic and repeated, "Do you trust me?" Sonic nodded slowly taking the hand. "Yyyeess," he said, unsure of where this was going. "Then, juuummmp," Amy screamed as Cosmo grabbed her other hand and pulled them over the edge.

The fall didn't last long, and the landing was softened by a few flour bags. Cosmo was the first one on her feet. "Come on, let's get out of here," she said already moving. Cosmo turned around only to find she had run right into General Robotnik… again. Robotnik picked up Cosmo, laughing cruelly. "We just keep running into each other, don't we Plant Rat?" Just then, Sonic ran past holding Amy who held out her hammer to whack Robotnik and free Cosmo. However, this time the general had expected Amy to charge in, hammer swinging; with his free hand, Robotnik grabbed the hammer. Amy held on. Sonic didn't, and in his flustered attempts to turn around, he ran into a wall.

Robotnik shook the hammer, tossing Amy into some nearby Swatbots, who stunned her before she hit the ground, insuring paralysis for a couple of hours. Robotnik was about to throw Cosmo to them too, when Sonic rammed him, causing him to throw Cosmo into a pot instead. Temporarily stunned, Cosmo decided to hide in the pot for a moment. (All the Swatbots would be watching Sonic and Robotnik so she wasn't in any immediate danger.) "Looky here, boys," Robotnik said through gritted teeth as he punched Sonic in the stomach causing him bend over in pain. "A Road Boar!" The Swatbots, believing their boss was trying to make a joke, started laughing.

But Sonic just stood up slowly. He knew what he had to do; there was no other way out of this one. "Unhand her by order of the prince!" he declared throwing off his hood and revealing his crown. Immediately becoming remorseful, Robotnik bowed. "Prince Sonic!" The Swatbots immediately bowed and positioned Amy into an awkward bowing position. "The prince?" Amy whispered in total shock, and inside the jar came a muffled "The prince!" from Cosmo. "What are you doing outside the palace?" Robotnik asked extremely flustered. "And with this Road Hog-ˮ "That's none of your concern," Sonic said sternly. "Do as I command; release her." "I would, Your Highness, except my orders come from Rouge. You'll have to take it up with her," Robotnik replied, relieved that he had an excuse not to release Amy. Sonic's eyes narrowed. "Believe me, I will."

* * *

><p>Rouge slowly opened the door to her secret lab. She knew full well that Sonic was furious about Amy's arrest, and she could understand why General Robotnik hadn't bothered to look for Cosmo after the prince revealed himself. However, having thought it over, Rouge believed that she had found a solution to the prince interfering just as long as he didn't find her while she was-<p>

"Rouge!" In one swift movement, Rouge whirled around and slammed the secret entrance shut (or would have if Elaso hadn't gotten stuck in it). "Your Highness," she said bowing as Sonic ran into the room. "Rouge, I'm stuck," Elaso whispered. But Rouge didn't have time to worry about Elaso or the slight crack in the wall giving away the entrance to the lab; Sonic was already in front of her. "I've been searching the entire palace for you." "Really?" Rouge asked feigning innocence. "How may I be of service to you?" The prince didn't waste any time. "General Robotnik and the Swatbots just took a girl from the market on your orders," he said, pointing accusatively. Rouge sniffed and waved a hand dismissively. "Your father has charged me with keeping peace in Agras-Ray-Mobia; the girl was a criminal," she said coolly. She was about to continue when Sonic interrupted asking, "What was her crime?" At that point Rouge felt a tugging on her dress and looked down to see Elaso trying to get her attention. "I can't breathe; Rouge." Ignoring him, Rouge turned back to Sonic and answered, "Why, kidnapping the prince, of course." "Rouge can you jus-ˮ Rouge slammed her foot against the secret entrance completely closing it despite Elaso being in it. "OW, ow, that hurt!"

"She didn't kidnap me; I ran away," Sonic said, now furious with himself for doing so. Rouge twisted her face so as to look totally shocked and started to walk away from the entrance in dramatic sorrow. "Oh,… dear! Oh, how dreadful! Had I but known!" Prince Sonic followed her slowly, sensing bad news. "What is it?" Rouge turned back to the prince. "Sadly the girl's sentence has already been carried out." "What sentence?" Sonic asked, although he feared he already knew the answer; there could only be one punishment for kidnapping a prince. "Death by roboticization," Rouge whispered, echoing his suspicions. Sonic's eyes widened and he started staring out into space. Rouge flew behind him and put a hand on his shoulder. "I am exceedingly sorry, Your Highness." Sonic lashed out knocking Rouge onto the floor, and ran out of the room.

As Rouge stood up and brushed herself off, the wall burst open and Elaso came flapping out, coughing and hacking as he did so. Elaso flew over to Rouge weakly and perched on her shoulder. Abruptly, as though he hadn't just been stuck in a wall, Elaso looked at Rouge and eagerly asked, "So, how did it go?" "I think he took it-ˮ A cruel smile played on Rouge's lips as she and Elaso looked in the direction the prince had run. "-rather well."

Tails found Sonic sitting by the fountain in the courtyard, and he could tell just by Sonic's face that the market-girl was dead. Slowly, Tails walked over to Sonic. He wasn't crying—the king's advisors would probably say that it wouldn't do for the heir to the throne to show such weakness—but, Tails could see that he wanted to. Tails sat down next to Sonic. Sonic glanced at Tails, but otherwise didn't acknowledge his presence.

Being certain to phrase his words carefully, Tails told the young prince, "It's okay, you know. To cry, I mean. You're hurt; you should let it out. I know what the advisors say, but it isn't a sign of strength to hold in such pain as this." Slowly, the prince nodded, and a single tear came out of his left eye. "You were right; I shouldn't have run away," he told Tails. Turning to look his bodyguard full in the face, Sonic added, "I didn't even know her name." Then, throwing dignity to the wind, Sonic hugged Tails and cried into his shoulder. And Tails hugged him back, and they stayed there for a long time thinking of each other not as master and servant but as brothers they could confide in.

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><p><span>Cosmo: Amy was mostly responsible for writing this chapter, so if it seemed unrealistic, just remember that she wanted them to get married in this chapter. I had a hard time reminding her that the happy ending can't come until the end.<span>


	7. Cave of Wonders

**Okay, I was pressured into posting another chapter by the reviews. I'm still contemplating whether or not this is a good idea but... if you want more, let me know. The Sonic girls certainly want me to keep posting this for them.**

**Chapter 4**

**The Cave of Wonders**

Nighttime descended upon the castle dungeon, and Amy still had not managed to slip free of the shackles that held her arms over her head and forced her to remain seated. Finally giving up she sighed and started berating herself. "He was the prince! I can't believe it. I must've sounded so stupid to him!"

"Hello, Amy?" whispered a familiar voice. Amy looked up and saw Cosmo at the prison window, keys in one hand and Amy's hammer in the other. Brightening a bit, Amy called out to the thief. "Cosmo, down here." Cosmo put a finger to her lips, which Amy understood to mean, "Don't talk so loudly." Removing the loose bars she had once cut to break Amy out, Cosmo jumped down into the prison.

"Hey, come on, help me out of these," Amy said expectantly. But Cosmo stared at the keys she'd swiped from a guard and replied, "I could, but should I free a partner as careless as you?" "What's that supposed to mean?" Amy asked, her blood beginning to boil. Cosmo began flexing her arms as though she had muscles. "I am the strongest, fastest, handsomest hedgehog in the world and the prince besides. I'm running away from home and if you help me, you will, no doubt, get in a heap of trouble. So come on, take me home, ask me to be part of your group," –Cosmo immediately shifted from mocking to furious—"and of course whatever you do, don't listen to anything your partner says!"

Amy forced her temper down; Cosmo's anger was understandable. "Hey, come on, he got in trouble for trying to help a homeless boy; how many times have we done the same thing? It just seemed to me that he was a lot like us, and might enjoy joining us." Cosmo walked over to her and started testing the keys. "Yeah, yeah, whatever you say." "Don't worry Cosmo, we'll never see him again; he's the prince, and there's a law, remember?" Cosmo rolled her eyes; Amy was talking more to herself than to her… again. "He has to marry a princess. He deserves a princess." Cosmo found the right key and the shackles snapped off. "Ta da!" she said, trying to get Amy to stop thinking about Sonic, but it was no use. Rubbing her wrists Amy berated herself; "I'm a… I'm a fool."

"You're only a fool if you give up girl."Cosmo and Amy whirled around and saw wrinkly old bat with a crippled wing, dressed in rags worse than theirs and leaning on a cane for support. "Who are you?" they asked at the same time. "A lowly prisoner like yourselves. But together, perhaps we can be more." Cosmo and Amy shared a skeptical but curious look before turning back to the hag-bat. "We're listening," Amy said raising an eyebrow while Cosmo folder her hands leaning Amy's hammer at her side.

The hag came over to them and began speaking confidentially. "There is a cave, m'gels, a cave of wonders—," she said wiggling her fingers mysteriously. Then reaching into her rags, the hag pulled out a couple of rubies that sparkled in the moonlight. "—filled with treasures beyond your wildest dreams!" "Wow," Cosmo said eyeing the rubies and licking her lips as though they were a delicacy she could eat, and even though Amy was not as wild about shiny objects, she also couldn't help smiling broadly at the thought of a whole cave full of them. The hag-bat put the rubies back among her rags and tottered away a bit adding, "Treasure enough to impress even your prince, I'd wager."

Elaso pushed against the rags so as to speak to Rouge. "Rouge, could you hurry up? I'm dying in here!" But Rouge just gave him a whack to shut him up and turned to face Amy who was trying to point out an observation. "But the law says that only a princess can—ˮ Rouge interrupted, getting right up in Amy's face. "You've heard of the golden rule haven't you? Whoever has the gold makes the rules!" Rouge cackled and stepped back to make sure Amy had breathing room.

"I'm more concerned with why you would share all this wonderful treasure with us," Cosmo put in, obviously very eager, but still cautious. "Look at me," Rouge replied moving over to Cosmo. "I'm old and weak. I need a couple young pairs of legs and a strong back or two to go in after it."

Rouge moved over to a nearby wall while Amy further pointed out, "Just one last thing: it's out there, and we're in here." But Rouge shook a finger at them, tut-tutting. "Things aren't always what they seem," Rouge replied pushing her cane against the wall and revealing a secret exit. "So," Rouge concluded, "do we have a deal?" Amy and Cosmo looked at each other and shrugged.

The journey took half the night, and the sandstorm made it all the worse. Nonetheless, around midnight Cosmo and Amy found themselves standing before the lion shaped entrance to the Cave of Wonders. Rouge looked on as the cave guardian repeated the same ritual with them that it had with Fang. "WHO DISTURBS MY SLUMBER?" Amy and Cosmo stood in amazement and shock. Shaking herself back to the present Amy replied, "It is I, Amy Rosaldin." "Uh, and I, Cosmo Oak," Cosmo added. The lion seemed to inspect them and then said, "PROCEED. TOUCH NOTHING BUT THE LIGHT BULB!" And with that the cave guardian opened its mouth wide to allow them passage. "Remember girls," Rouge called out from behind them, "first fetch me the light bulb, and then, you shall have your reward." Trying to show more courage than she felt Amy started toward the cave with Cosmo following along behind.

The staircase inside the lion's mouth seemed to go on for miles. When they finally got to the bottom they noticed a small archway carved out of stone and leading into another chamber that was filled with light. Upon entering, Cosmo and Amy's fear melted away leaving only wonder. The room was filled with mountains of gold, jewels, and all sorts of valuable items. "Wow, would you look at that?" Amy said, though she didn't need to; Cosmo was already gawking at the sight. "Just a handful of this stuff would make us richer than the king." "Forget a handful!" Cosmo replied, "Let's get the whole lot of it!" And with that she charged toward the nearest pile.

"Wait!" Amy knocked Cosmo away from the pile with her hammer. Cosmo lay there for a moment processing this then jumped up and yelled, "What's gotten into you attacking your partner like that." "Sorry," Amy replied, and she meant it. "But you were making a terrible mistake." "A terrible mistake? I'll bet it wasn't as horrid as betraying my partner!" Cosmo yelled back getting more and more furious by the second. Calmly, Amy replied, "I wasn't attacking you or betraying you, I—ˮ "Well, what would you call it if I smashed you with a hammer!" Amy stopped. She knew the honest answer to that, but it was the wrong answer. Deciding to go with a lie rather than tell Cosmo what she expected, Amy replied, "I would ask you why you did that and listen to what you had to say before deciding whether or not you betrayed me." Cosmo raised an eyebrow. "Oh you would, would you? All right, I'm listening; tell me your excuse if you have one."

Amy turned back to the pile of treasure. "Come here and take a closer look at this, but don't touch it." Cosmo walked over to Amy stiffly and examined the treasure. "What do you see?" Cosmo shrugged. "A fortune greater than anyone ever heard of." "Cosmo, I'm surprised at you!" Cosmo turned to look Amy who was beginning to get exasperated. She continued, "You're so consumed by greed right now that you can't see all the danger right in front of you; the treasure is filled with booby traps!" Shocked, Cosmo turned back to the treasure. Sure enough there were booby traps all over the place. If Amy hadn't knocked her away, she would be crippled or dead. Cosmo slowly turned back to Amy, "You saved my life." Amy just rolled her eyes. "Hey, it's nothing I haven't done before. You'd have done the same for me.

"In any case, it seems obvious to me that the only item in this cave that's not rigged is that light bulb the lion and the creepy old bat were talking about." Cosmo nodded. "Of course, 'Touch nothing but the light bulb,' that's what the big lion-head said." "This all has to stay where it is," Amy said sadly, though not as sadly as Cosmo looked. "And if we want to get outta here with anything, we've gotta find that light bulb." Amy started to walk off. Cosmo turned back towards the treasure, reached out a hand and clenched it into a fist. "Such a waste." But she didn't try to take it again. Instead, she turned to follow Amy.

They hadn't gone far, however, when Cosmo got the distinct feeling that someone was right behind her. She whirled around, but saw nothing except treasure, treasure, the puddle she had just walked through, and more trea—wait, puddle? As a Seedrian if she had walked through water, she would've known; it's in her instincts. She hadn't walked through water, and yet there was water. Cosmo checked her back for a creature clinging to it and checked the ceiling for a creature drooling; there was nothing. Cosmo shrugged it off but turned back slowly.

A few seconds later the feeling came back. Cosmo spun around even faster than last time, specifically checking for water on the ground behind her. There wasn't any, but the puddle from the previous time had also disappeared. Then she noticed a pot that was teeter-tottering and ended up falling over. Water spilled out. Water…

Cosmo ran to catch up with Amy who was by this time a little way ahead of her. "Amy, wait." As Amy came to a halt, and Cosmo came running up, she said, "This is gonna sound crazy, but I think we're being followed by water." Amy raised an eyebrow. "What?" "I think we're being followed by water." Amy's face became reproachful. "Now Cosmo, this is no time for practical jokes, we've got a job to do." "But—ˮ "Knock it off, will ya?" Cosmo was furious at that, but when she thought about it, it did sound rather dumb. Followed by water? That made no sense. Deciding that she must be imagining things Cosmo resumed following Amy.

Behind Cosmo, the water that came out of the pot reformed into a winged, liquid beast of some sort. It stretched out its wings and silently snuck up behind Cosmo again. As Cosmo once again felt as though someone was right behind her, an old saying came into her mind; "once could be nothing, twice could be a coincidence, but thrice is a guarantee". Nonetheless, Cosmo hadn't made up her mind whether or not to look before she felt a moist hand tap her on the shoulder.

As Cosmo whirled around, the water-creature flew up and over Cosmo to avoid being seen. Next it tugged on the back of Cosmo's dress. Whirling around again, Cosmo still couldn't see anything, because the creature was now directly over top of her. Cosmo was panicking when she felt a wet hand lift her home-made flower-crown off of her head. Cosmo turned her head once more and saw… the watery creature wearing her flower-crown.

Instantly, Cosmo screamed and ran to get Amy while the liquid creature panicked, dropping the flower-crown and flying the other direction. Amy turned around as Cosmo ran into her. Amidst Amy's protests, Cosmo picked her up and turned her to face the watery being. The creature was watching them cautiously and curiously. "What is it?" Cosmo asked, thoroughly spooked. Amy, however, was in awe. "I… I think it's a Chaos." "A what?" Cosmo asked confused. "Come on, we won't hurt you," Amy said to the Chaos before turning to Cosmo and replying, "They're mythical creatures that are said to sometimes be found guarding Chao colonies. They can take various forms, though I've never heard of one that could fly before now."

Cosmo looked around and started to notice the small, blue, teardrop-shaped creatures that were staring at them with frightened curiosity. Meanwhile, the Chaos reached into the treasure, setting off several booby traps that didn't seem to have any effect on it, and pulled out a gold-handled feather duster. Then, flying over to Cosmo's flower crown, the Chaos picked it up, and dusted it off before throwing the feather duster back into the gold mound. When the Chaos started walking over to Cosmo, she flinched, hiding behind Amy. "Hey, take it easy Cosmo; he won't try to hurt us, as long as we don't try to hurt the Chao."

The Chaos offered Amy the flower crown. "Thank you," Amy said before turning around and handing it to Cosmo. Cosmo in turn slapped it onto her head and proceeded to reprimand the Chaos… in Seedriss. "ÐÏ€Éƌ Ø€ßƌ æçÕ€ð!" The Chaos couldn't understand what Cosmo said, but it didn't have to to know that Cosmo was mad.

As the Chaos started to walk away sadly, Amy stopped it. "Wait, don't go; maybe you can help us." The Chaos perked up immediately, doing a sort of victory-spin around them. Amy laughed at the Chaos's exaggerated display of happiness while Cosmo just kept glaring. When the Chaos backed off to hear what it could do, Amy added, "See, we're trying to find this light bulb." The Chaos perked again and beckoned for them to follow it. Amy turned to Cosmo grinning; "I think he knows where it is!" "That's-ˮ Cosmo gritted her teeth. "-marvelous."

As the Chaos led them down a dark cavern, the Chao started to come out of hiding. Not only that, they were very friendly and quickly pulled Cosmo out of her anger against the Chaos. Finally the cavern opened up into another large chamber; this one was almost completely filled by an underground lake and the light bulb could be seen on an island in the center. The only way to get to the island seemed to be hopping across some very narrow stepping stones.

Cosmo looked at the stepping stones and shook her head. "I think I'll just swim." "No, wait, look!" Amy yelled pointing at the water. As Cosmo looked, she noticed bubbles on the water, too many to be fish. "It's boiling!" she exclaimed, backing away from the water's edge. Amy nodded and turned to the Chaos. "Do you think you could fly us over?" The Chaos shook its head and before Amy could ask why some of the water suddenly shot up into a pillar of steam. Cosmo shivered. "Underwater geysers? I didn't even think that was possible." Amy shrugged. "Maybe it isn't; the cave entrance was magical, maybe the water is too."

Amy examined the stepping stones and turned to Cosmo. "Jump time?" Cosmo shook her head emphatically. "I'm not jumping across those; there's too much margin for error. I'm likely to overshoot the jump and land in the lake." Amy sighed exasperated. "The one time I'm actually prepared to jump, and you don't want to! Fine, I'll go by myself." Cosmo grabbed Amy's wrist. "Now hold on, you're not leaving me behind." Amy rolled her eyes. "Can you make the jumps?" "Well, I don't know, bu-ˮ "Then you're staying behind," Amy finished matter-of-factly. Cosmo hesitated and then nodded and let go. "Okay, but be careful."

Amy readied herself and leaped across to the first stone. Her landing was a bit shaky, but she was pleasantly surprised to find that the stone was somewhat larger than it had appeared. Cosmo watched as Amy leaped to the second stone and then the third before turning away; it was too nerve-wracking to continue watching.

That was when Cosmo noticed it, a golden statue holding a beautiful red ruby. And no sign of any booby traps. Cosmo glanced over her shoulder at the Chaos. It was still watching Amy, who was beginning to move a bit more quickly. Cosmo glanced back at the ruby. Well, it wouldn't hurt to take a closer look, right?

As Cosmo started walking towards the jewel, Amy reached the island and began walking up the stairs toward the light bulb. The Chaos turned to look at Cosmo in relief only to notice that Cosmo wasn't there. After taking a moment to look around, the Chaos spotted Cosmo heading towards the ruby with a hungry glint in her eyes. Panicking, the Chaos flew over to Cosmo and tried to hold her back.

Meanwhile, Amy finally reached the light bulb. Hesitantly she reached out, picked it up and examined it. The light bulb, as stated in the prologue, was pitch black so that it was impossible to look inside of it. In all other aspects, the bulb was completely unremarkable and this one oddity only served to make Amy wondered if it could even give off light when turned on. "This is it? This is what we came all this way to-ˮ

At that point, Amy heard a strange sound like someone screaming in pain underwater. She turned around to see the Chaos trying one-handed to stop Cosmo from grabbing the ruby. "Cosmo! No!" But it was too late. The Chaos lost its grip and Cosmo took the stone from the statue's hands. "No worries!" she called back. "It wasn't a trap."

But even as she said it, the gemstone started glowing and the voice of the cave guardian came booming into the room. "INFIDELS!" "Uh, oh," Cosmo said as she felt heat coming from inside the crystal. "YOU HAVE TOUCHED THE FORBIDDEN TREASURE!" Cosmo tried to put the ruby back on the statue, but the jewel in question seemed to have gained a mind of its own; the statue started to melt and the ruby slammed into Cosmo's stomach knocking her backwards. "NOW YOU SHALL NEVER AGAIN SEE THE LIGHT OF DAY!"

Amy started running down the stairs, pocketing the light bulb as the top of the island erupted like a volcano. Abruptly, the stairs morphed becoming a slide. Caught off guard, Amy slipped and slid down the slide which threw over the lake which was now glowing red as lava started came up to the surface.

Amy started to fall toward the lava when her fall was interrupted; the Chaos had swooped in to save her. What happened next was roller coaster of fire, water and fleeing Chao, and Amy was in so much confusion that the only way she knew up from down was by the eerie glow coming from the lava. Forcing herself to concentrate, Amy started searching for Cosmo. She soon noticed Cosmo hopping across the only land that seemed to be left in the chamber, the stepping stones, but the rocks in question were starting to explode and Cosmo had nowhere else to go.

Amy grabbed onto the Chaos's wings and yanked on them, steering the Chaos like a plane. Just below them, Cosmo started panicking. The rock ahead of Cosmo exploded and then the one behind her exploded and her own rock started to heat up. "Cosmo!"Amy held out her hammer; Cosmo grabbed onto it and was swept up mere seconds before the rock exploded.

There was no time to celebrate because immediately after this a tidal wave of lava formed behind them and started coming after them. "Whoa!" Amy yelled upon noticing it. "Chaos let's go!" she declared releasing the Chaos's wings and giving it control of the flight. The Chaos immediately redirected their course out of the cavern dodging stray fire balls and falling rocks.

Cosmo seemed to have phased out, looking with a paralyzed fear at the lava wave behind them with the glowing ruby still attached to her stomach. After one particularly close call, she snapped out of her motionless state and grabbed onto Amy. "I'm so sorry! This is all my fault! We're gonna die!" and on she went apologizing and bemoaning their fate. Amy, whose eyes were stuck under Cosmo's arms tried to pry her loose. "Cosmo-Cosmo this is no time to panic!" she said managing to free her eyes by time she finished talking. But then they both stopped. Ahead it appeared as though there was nothing but a dead end. "Start panicking!" Abruptly, just before they would've hit the wall, the Chaos dived straight down towards the archway at the bottom of the cliff. Cosmo and Amy grabbed onto each other and the Chaos; their screams mingled as they saw the lava above them and the ground rushing up to meet them.

The girls could never fathom how the Chaos managed to get them through the arch without crashing into the floor, but somehow it did, and the three of them found themselves in the treasure room with the lava passing below them. All around them, Chao were flying as high as they could to avoid the lava flow and fireballs, and when the Chaos started to do the same thing, Amy started to believe they were home free.

But Cosmo didn't; she started tugging on Amy and pointing below them. "L-look out! Th-th-there's a-ˮ Cosmo didn't get any farther than that because at that point a column of fire burst up in front of them. Acting instinctively, Amy grabbed the Chaos's wings and steered them around the flame geyser, barely avoiding it. A second flame geyser appeared before them, but this time Amy was more prepared, successfully weaving them around it without any difficulty. "Geeze!" Amy shouted. "It's like this place is targeting us!" At that point Cosmo noticed that the burning sensation in her stomach was not just a fear of fire. Glancing down, Cosmo finally saw the oval jewel glowing on her chest. "Uh, oh. Amy, it's not targeting _us_; it's targeting _me_!" And with that, Cosmo grabbed the ruby and started trying to pull it off.

Amy, however, had other things on her mind. They had gotten close enough to the cave entrance that she could hear the lion roaring in fury… and anguish? It didn't matter; what mattered was that they were almost out. Amy pointed the Chaos straight towards the exit and the three of them started zooming at it, closer, closer, closer. They were hit! A rock falling from the ceiling smashed into the Chaos, knocking it away and scattering it into several sections. Amy reached out and managed to grab onto what was left of the staircase leading out of the cave with both hands. Cosmo grabbed onto Amy's leg with one hand and then caught her hammer in the other.

Seeing Rouge above them, Amy yelled, "Help us out!" But Amy's life was of no concern to Rouge who called back, "Throw me the light bulb!" Cosmo started struggling to find someplace to put Amy's hammer so she could use the hand holding it to get out. This added imbalance caused Amy to start slipping faster. "I can't hold on," she said to Rouge. "Give me your hand!" "First give me the bulb!" Amy reached out to hand the light bulb to Rouge while Cosmo finally settled on placing the hammer's handle between her teeth. She then grabbed onto Amy's other leg with the hand that had been holding the hammer, preparing for a risky move.

Rouge reached out and took the light bulb from Amy. Then completely forgetting about her, Rouge laughed and held the light bulb above her head. "Yyeess! At last!" she declared, cuddling the light bulb before pocketing it. At the same time, Cosmo pulled hard on Amy's legs, throwing herself up onto the ledge. "Cosmo!" Amy lost her grip, but Cosmo was ready, holding out the hammer for Amy to grab. However, this got Rouge's attention and before Cosmo had finished pulling Amy up, Rouge knocked her away and grabbed Amy by the wrist. "What are you doing?" Amy screamed, although she feared she already knew the answer. "Giving you your reward." Rouge stopped disguising her voice and pulled out a knife. "Your eternal reward."

But Rouge had made a major miscalculation; she had forgotten about Cosmo, who came charging in with Amy's hammer and knocked the knife out of Rouge's hand. Screaming in pain, Rouge let go of Amy who immediately started falling. Cosmo instinctively ran over to the ledge. "Amy!" A sharp kick in the back from Rouge sent her falling too.

Rouge didn't stay to see whether or not the girls survived the fall because the cave entrance was collapsing. The cave guardian, having fulfilled its duty, was dying and Rouge had no intention of ending up like Fang. Zooming out of the cave entrance, Rouge watched as the lion head dissipated, this time not even leaving behind a sand dune. The Cave of Wonders was no more.

Rouge giggled to herself. "It's mine," she declared rubbing off the make-up that made her look wrinkled. "It's all mine. I-ˮ But when Rouge reached into her pocket, she didn't feel anything. "Where is it?" She dug deeper into her pocket but still found nothing. "No." She checked everywhere she could think of, but the light bulb had disappeared. "Noooooo!"


	8. Genies

**CRC: Well, it looks like I'm officially back into fanfiction. I won't let it become my top priority again, but on the opposite hand, it's about time some of my stories progressed. This one being by far the most popular, I have decided to update it more quickly than the others (which I am sure will make the girls happy), but I intend to make progress on all of them.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 5<strong>

**Genies**

King Sire was shocked by the reports; his son had been seen crying! Unsure of what to do, he had delayed for a time, but now he had made up his mind. Sonic would not have been crying unless something had made him unbearably upset, so the king went in that night to see what he could do. "Sonic." When the prince turned to look at him, King Sire could tell he had been right; this _was _going to be very upsetting. The prince had long ceased crying, but there remained that look of anguish, grief and self-blame that makes the sunniest day seem gloomy. "Oh, my son, what's wrong?" Sonic hesitated. "I… Rouge… has done something terrible." The king sat down next to son and dismissed all of the guards including Tails; he wanted this father-son talk to be private. "Now, now then," he said. "We'll set it right. Now, tell me everything."

Amy slowly woke hearing what sounded like Cosmo playing water polo. Splashing and sloshing and slapping intermingled with exclamations of "Take that you disgusting –mmf!" and "Oh no you didn't!" and "Let go of me, you creepy –ack!-(cough cough)." But Amy wasn't able to take in the implications of such statements at first as an overwhelming headache plagued her. "Oh, I think I hit my head on something."

Amy sat up to see the Chao colony hiding behind rocks looking fearfully behind her. Turning around, Amy watched as a mass of water and leaves rolled past. Cosmo and the Chaos were locked in an intense, slimy brawl that looked like it could go on for hours; perhaps it had considering Amy had no idea how long she was unconscious.

Seeing her hammer lying next to her—no doubt Cosmo had put it there—Amy picked it up and slammed it on the ground next to the combatants. "All right, knock it off, break it up!" "Break it up," was an easier said than done cliché; the two fighters had become so tangled up that, even though Amy had sufficiently startled them, it took several minutes for them to unravel themselves.

"All right," Amy said when they had finally separated, "what's going on here?" Cosmo immediately rushed to supply an explanation. "Well, your little buddy here pulled itself back together in time to save us, but after we had you where you could start recovering, it started crawling over me and… it… ew!" Turning to the Chaos, Amy started to ask if it had started doing this to Cosmo when she noticed something different about it.

Turning back to Cosmo, Amy said, "It's missing an arm. Cosmo, do you have any ideas what may have happened to Chaos's left arm?" Cosmo's face seemed to get a bit paler as she shook her head. Amy then noticed the ruby on Cosmo's stomach. "Why do you still have that after all the trouble it caused?" Cosmo was getting a bit frustrated; she felt like _she _was being made to look like the bad guy here. "I can't take it off. Look!" she declared showing Amy where the jewel dug into her skin. "It's imbedded in me; I'll never be able to get it out without surgery."

Although Amy seemed satisfied with that answer, as Cosmo looked at the fiery stone, which had stopped glowing a while ago, she felt all the guilt come rushing back. "As a matter of fact I don't want it removed. No, not for the reasons you think; for the exact opposite. You were right before when you said I was letting myself get consumed by greed. Now we're trapped and it's my fault, and I think it's a sick but appropriate irony that the crystal that I wanted so badly is now a source of shame for me. I hate it, and I am never going to look at jewelry the same way ever again because of it." Cosmo started to cry. "I'm so sorry."

Amy immediately took pity on her partner; she obviously regretted her mistake, and Amy realized she had been blaming Cosmo up until now. Amy sat down next to Cosmo. "It's not your fault; true, you made a mistake, but I'm the one who saw the prince in the marketplace and rushed into trouble. Besides, that two-faced, winged snake is the one who left us here to rot. Ah, but there's no point in pointing fingers; whoever she was, she's long gone with that light bulb."

Cosmo giggled through her tears. "Light bulb? You mean like_ this _light bulb?" she said, pulling the object in question out of her pocket. Even given the emotional state they had just been in, Amy could not help but laugh at this change of fortune. "Why you leaf-headed little thief; oh that's good! What I wouldn't give to see the look on that hag's face when she finds out it's gone." Calming herself down, Amy turned to Cosmo. "Come here," she said, holding out her arms. The two of them hugged as sisters often do when forgiving each other.

And, also as sisters often do when forgiving each other, when they separated they sought confirmation. "So are we good?" Cosmo nodded relieved. "Yeah, we're good." But then she saw the Chaos still glaring at her. "But what about _him_?" Amy turned and looking back and forth between Cosmo and the Chaos declared, "I cannot force you to forgive each other and become friends, but we're stuck in this cave together, and we can't afford to be fighting one another. Please, try to work with each other until we find a way out; can you two agree to do that much?" A sense of enmity still remained between the plant and the water creature, but at Amy's direction, the two shook hands and declared a truce.

"Now then," Amy said returning her attention to the light bulb. "Let's start by seeing what this is." Cosmo handed it to Amy, who looked at it and came to the same conclusion as before; "It's a beat-up worthless piece of junk. I don't understand why the bat wanted it so badly." "Well," Cosmo replied reaching into her other pocket. "I also got this off her." Cosmo pulled out something that had the same general shape as a flashlight. However, at the top, the flashlight had been modified to take the same type of bulb as the one Amy was holding.

Immediately, the Chaos started acting up, pointing at the light bulb and then at the flashlight and back again. "Well, it looks like Chaos thinks we should turn the bulb on," Amy said taking the flashlight from Cosmo and screwing the light bulb onto it. "Although personally I don't see why; it doesn't look like it can give off light." Even so, after she had it screwed on tight, she flicked it on.

Instantly it was as though the light bulb was insulted by Amy's comments. The dark tint covering the bulb disappeared as bright light of many colors, mostly green, purple and yellow, started coming out of it. The bulb shook and green fireworks came out of it as the sound of screaming started to ring throughout the chamber. But the most astonishing part was when the source of the scream, a large green crocodile, came out of the light bulb in a firework frenzy. "AHHHHHH! (crack) Oy! Ten thousand years will give you such a crick in the neck."

Before either Amy or Cosmo could recover from the shock of this happening, a spiral of yellow smoke came out of the bulb and threw Amy onto the nearest wall while a young, irritating voice said, "Hang on a second." The yellow smoke cloud went spinning up the cavern. "Waaaahhooo!" Finally settling down, the yellow smoke cleared to reveal a young bee who promptly yelled, "Does it feel good to be out of there!" "You took the words right out of my mouth," the crocodile replied.

As Cosmo and the Chaos pulled Amy down, the crocodile started talking into a microphone. "I am telling ya' it's nice to be back, ladies and gentlemen. Hi, where are ya' from; what's your name?" Amy realized the crocodile was talking to her when he put the microphone down in front of her. "Uh,… Amy Rosaldin." "Amy Rosaldin." A flashing sign with Amy's name on it appeared next to the crocodile. "Hi, Amy Rosaldin and welcome to the show. Can we call you Ames or maybe just Din?" At this point the bee piped up again. "Ooh, ooh, or how about Rosy?" he asked transforming into a rose. "Get it? Rose, Rosy, Rosaldin?" Amy shivered. "I must have hit my head harder than I thought." "Nah, I think we've died and gone to hell," Cosmo put in.

Just then, Cosmo heard someone cough behind her. She whirled around, but didn't see anyone. She heard someone, though. "Do you smoke? Mind if I do?" And then, _poof_, in a blast of purple smoke a purple chameleon appeared. Cosmo screamed. "What is with people and sneaking up on me?" "My apologizes," the chameleon said bowing low. "I simply haven't had a chance to practice my ninjitsu skills in a long time." Then, as suddenly and dramatically as it had appeared, the chameleon vanished.

While Cosmo was getting over this latest surprise, the bee pointed at the Chaos and started exclaiming, "Hey, Ariel; it's Ariel!" The Chaos (Ariel) immediately waved at the bee. "Wow!" the bee continued. "We haven't seen you in a few millennia." Holding out a hand, the bee added, "Well don't just wave and leave me hanging ten, slap me some beach." Ariel flew up to the bee and the two of them performed a short high-five ritual. "'Slap me some beach?'" Amy repeated trying to sort through whatever she could. "That makes no sense."

At that point, the crocodile bent down and examined Amy saying, "Say, you're a lot smaller than my last master." "Uh, Vector," said the chameleon appearing beside him, "you didn't make yourself so big near our last master." "You calling me fat?" "Wait a minute," Amy interrupted; "I'm your master?" "That's right!" the chameleon exclaimed, slamming a graduation cap and scholarship onto Amy. "She can be taught."

"What do you wish of us?" The crocodile made himself into a muscle man. "The ever impressive-ˮ The bee put himself into a clear, flexible but sturdy box and started pushing against it. "-the long contained-ˮ The crocodile brought out a ventriloquist doll shaped vaguely like the bee. "-the constantly plagued by an irritating, little brat-ˮ And then, tossing aside the doll, the crocodile continued grandly, "-but never duplicated-ˮ at which point the bee made copies of itself which lined up behind the crocodile and each repeated, "-duplicated-ˮ; "-genies of the light bulb!" As the crocodile finally finished this long, dramatic sentence, the bee and its clones burst into applause, while the crocodile pulled out another microphone and said, "Right here direct from the light bulb! Right here for your very much wish fulfillment! Thank you, thank you!"

Cosmo started waving for attention. "Whoa, whoa, 'wish fulfillment'?" The chameleon appeared right next to Cosmo, startling her again, and replied, "Three wishes to be exact." "That's right," the bees piped up, "one from each of us." "But ixnay on the wishing for more wishes." To emphasize this point, the crocodile made all of the bees disappear except for the real one. Then transforming into some sort of slot machine, he further emphasized this fact as he pulled his own lever saying, "That's it-ˮ and as three pictures of his head appeared in the slots and finished, "-three." Then the bee and two newly formed copies of itself popped out of the prize dispenser in the crocodile-slot-machine dressed in Mexican clothing. "Uno, dos, tres." And finally, appearing next to Amy, the chameleon added matter-of-factly, "No substitutions, exchanges or refunds. …Good grief." He added on the last part when he noticed the bee holding out a Tails Doll puppet with a No-Refunds-sign.

Having stated what they were, the genies proceeded to officially introduce themselves. The crocodile went first. "I'm Vector. I'm the big plan guy around here, and I'm also the first one to grant a wish." Then the bee introduced himself. "I'm Charmy, and I get to grant the second wish. That means I get to grant all the crazy stuff that Vector forgot." Vector was about to yell at Charmy when the chameleon appeared in between them. "My name is Espio. I grant the last wish, and I'm also the one people come to when they're ready to get serious." "Ah, seriousness is boring," Charmy said. "Yeah," Vector added. "Besides it's not that you're serious; it's that you're a pessimist."

"Now I know I'm dreaming," Cosmo whispered to Amy. "Nah," Amy replied, "I'm the one who hit her head on something; I'm obviously going insane." Hearing this, Vector turned to Amy and jazzy music started echoing throughout the cavern. "Master, I don't think you quite realize what you've got here." "Here we go again," Espio grumbled before disappearing. Ignoring Espio, Vector mystically moved Amy onto a debatably comfortable rock. "Why don't you just ruminate whilst I illuminate the possibilities."

Vector: Well Ali Baba had them forty thieves,

Scheherezad-ie had a thousand tales,

(Vector created forty thieves who immediately surrounded Amy, Ariel and Cosmo.)

Charmy: But Master you're in luck,

(Charmy's head pops up next to Amy's)

Cause up your sleeves,

You've got a brand of magic that never fails.

(Two muscular arms came out of Amy's sleeves and smashed the thieves.)

Vector: You've got some power in your corner now.

(As Charmy disappears, Vector creates a wrestling ring and starts massaging Amy's shoulders.)

Charmy: You've got some dynamite above your match.

(Nearby, Charmy transforms into a rocket and lights himself.)

You've got some punch, pizzazz,

(Charmy blasts and explodes all over the place.)

Vector: And if you're wondering how,

See all ya gotta do is flip that switch,

(Vector shrinks himself down above the light bulb and motions to the switch on the flashlight.)

And I'll say,

(Vector grows back to his giant size in cloud of smoke. Then with his arms crossed in professionalism, he continues.)

"Amy Rosaldin, ma'am,

What will your pleasure be?"

(Vector creates a fancy table and menus for Amy, Ariel and Cosmo. He then transforms into a French waiter before continuing.)

Let me take your order;

Jot it down.

(Vector pretends to write down an order and then bends down to them confidentially.)

You ain't never had a friend like me.

Ho, ho, ho.

Life is your restaurant and,

(Vector puts a tray of turkey before them.)

Charmy: I'm your maître d'!

(The turkey's body is replaced with Charmy's head.)

You wanna whisper what it is you want?

(Vector is shoved away as Charmy grows to his normal size and makes his ear grow next to Amy.)

You ain't never had a friend like me!

Yes ma'am,

We pride ourselves on service.

(Charmy multiplies himself and shoves everything/everyone aside. The Charmys give Amy a haircut, shave, and anything else a barber could give.)

Vector: You're the boss, the queen, the shah!

(Vector shoves away the Charmys, puts Amy on a throne and surrounds her with treasure.)

Say what you wish,

It's yours to dish.

(Vector places several trays of food in front of Amy.)

Charmy: How 'bout a little more Baklava?

(Charmy flies past completely burying everyone in Baklava as he goes.)

Vector: Try some of Column A,

(The Baklava disappears to reveal Amy standing on a column with a tray of food on it.)

Charmy: Try all of Column B.

(Amy falls off the first column and lands on a second column made entirely of food.)

Vector: I'm in the mood,

To help ya' dude.

(Amy falls off the column, but Vector catches her before she reaches the ground.)

You ain't never had a friend like me.

(Vector opens his mouth and a smaller version of him comes out wearing a suit.)

(The miniature dance.)

Wa wa wa!

Oh my!

Wa wa wa!

No, no!

Wa wa wa!

Ha, ha, ha!

Dada jepodu dupa_ poof_!

Can your friends do this?

(Vector takes of his head and juggles it.)

Can your friends do that?

(Vector throws his head to Amy to juggle.)

Charmy: Can your friends pull this,

Out their little hat?

(Charmy grabs himself, yanks, spins and transforms into a rabbit.)

Espio: Can your friends go _poof_?

(Espio appears in between Vector and Charmy and breaths fire.)

And looky here, ha, ha.

(Espio's flame-breath transforms into several strong men, while Vector and Charmy start glaring at Espio and each other.)

Charmy: Can your friends go,

Abracadabra let 'er rip,

(Charmy tears himself in half.)

Vector: And then make the sucker disappear?

(Vector makes the muscle men turn into smoke.)

Charmy: So just sit there slack-jawed, buggy eyed,

(Charmy appears in front of Amy, drops his jaw and thrusts his eyes forward.)

Vector: I'm here to answer all your midday prayers.

(Vector scoots along a diving board on his knees with his hands folded and then jumps off.)

Charmy: You got me bona fide, certified.

You got three genies for your charge d'affaires.

(Charmy transforms into a giant contract and wraps Amy up.)

Vector: I got a powerful urge to help you out,

(Vector grabs the edge of the Contract/Charmy and yanks, freeing Amy.)

So whatcha wish? I really wanna know.

You've gotta list that's ten miles long, no doubt.

(Vector pulls a long string of paper out of Amy's ear.)

Well all you gotta do is light that bulb and oh!

(Charmy starts to fly back over, but Vector whacks him away with the paper as though it were a whip.)

Amy Rosaldin, ma'am, have a wish

Charmy: Or two

Espio: Or three.

(Vector and Charmy strike poses while Espio seems to be doing no more than the song requires him to.)

Vector: I'm on the job.

Charmy: He's a big-nosed snob.

(Vector and Charmy are now getting really competitive.)

Vector: You ain't never had a friend, never had a friend,

(Vector makes dancing elephants.)

Charmy: You ain't never had a friend, never had a friend,

(Charmy makes dancing mules.)

Vector: You ain't never-

(Vector creates soldiers.)

Charmy: -had a-

(Charmy creates performing monkeys.)

Vector: -friend-

(Vector creates ladies.)

Charmy: -like-

(Charmy makes fireworks.)

Both: MEEEE!

Vector: Ya, ha, ha!

(There is a spirited celebration all around Amy now as Vector dances in a top hat.)

Charmy: Wa, ha, ha!

(Charmy is all in pieces in the excitement while Cosmo tries to force her way to Amy.)

Both: You ain't never had a friend like me!

(Espio summons up a whirlwind to take away everything Charmy and Vector had created and return Ariel, Cosmo, and Amy to their original positions while Vector and Charmy both struck poses.)

(End of Song)

While Ariel clapped away Cosmo and Amy struggled with bringing their eyesight back into focus. There was now no doubt in Amy's mind that this was too crazy to be a dream, so that was no longer an issue when Vector bent down to her and asked, "So what'll it be master?" But Cosmo spoke up first. "What about me? Do I get three wishes too?" "Ah." Vector slowly got up and looked over to Charmy. Then they both looked at Espio. Clearing his throat, Espio summarized, "Unfortunately, since you weren't the one to flip the switch, you are not our master, and the only way our master can change is if our master dies or if the light bulb is stolen, so… to answer your question… no." For a moment it seemed like Cosmo was going to explode, but she just shrugged and said, "Fine, I don't really need anything anyway."

Amy, relieved that Cosmo was okay with this, turned back to the genies and asked, "You're going to grant me any three wishes I want right." Vector and Charmy glanced at Espio again. Sighing, Espio rolled his eyes and replied, "Actually there are few provisos and a couple of quid pro quos." Amy raised her eyebrows at that. "Like." "Well," Espio continued, "if you want to know all the rules you could read the details in the genie bylaws." And with a snap of his fingers, Espio started to conjure up a massive law document, page after page articulating rules and loopholes and counter-loopholes, until there wasn't a bare spot on the cavern floor.

Amy and Cosmo's jaws dropped. "You want me to read all _this? _I haven't even read a picture book in years." "Well," Espio said snapping his fingers and making the pages disappear, "There is another option. The bylaws can be summarized in three rules that hold true for most scenarios." "Three rules," Amy stated quickly, "I'll take the three rules."

"Very well then." Espio came and sat down next to Amy and started counting off on his fingers. "Rule number one; our powers cannot be used to harm anyone. Now there are loopholes to this of course, but generally speaking, if you asked us to drop someone off a cliff, when he hit the bottom he would be in pain but there would be no broken bones, no blood and certainly no death." At this point, Charmy summoned a sword and sliced off Vector's head. "So don't ask." "Hey, gimme that."

"Just ignore them," Espio whispered before continuing. Forcing herself to focus on Espio rather than think about disembodied heads was easier said than done, so Amy didn't quite absorb Espio's next rule. "Rule number two; although we can put emotions and thoughts into people's minds, our powers cannot be used to erase memories or directly control anyone's decisions." Amy nodded absentmindedly. "Okay, got it." "No, no you don't." Amy snapped to attention as Espio continued saying, "You don't 'got it' because nobody ever realizes the full implications of this rule when I tell it to them."

Espio sighed and rubbed his head as he contemplated how to proceed. "If… um… well, let me put it this way; is love an emotion or a choice?" Amy raised an eyebrow at what appeared to be a rather simple question. "An emotion." "Wrong! Passion is an emotion, but true love is actually a choice." At this point Espio seemed almost frantic, due to the fact that he was gesturing rather incoherently while he said this. It seemed pretty obvious he had had plenty of trouble with this in the past and was trying to make sure Amy completely understood him. "People always seem to think that love is the same thing as attraction, but the reality is that love is the willingness to lay down one's life for someone or something else, whereas attraction is as frivolous as any other emotion; without love, it doesn't last, and love is a choice."

Looking Amy in the eye, Espio asked in a calm voice that carried a well concealed but still audible tint of desperation, "Do you understand this?" Amy was a little scared by the strong convictions this subject seemed to provide Espio, but she replied coolly, "No, but I get the basic gist. You can't make people fall in love, because it somehow violates the whole 'mind control' rule, right?" Espio nodded, seeming quite relieved. "I suppose you could put it that way."

"Now then." Espio rubbed his head confusedly. "Where was I?" "You just finished bummer number two," Charmy declared, still trying to avoid Vector. "Oh yes, of course," Espio said nodding and giving no sign that anything unusual was going on behind him. "Then that just leaves rule number three." "Which is?" Amy asked impatiently. "Simply this, we can't bring souls back from the afterlife. We can create the undead, but… yeah you probably don't want to deal with that. In short, we can't bring people back from the dead, not really."

"Other than that," Espio concluded, punching Vector and Charmy for attention without turning around, "you got it." Espio punctuated this by bowing all the way to the ground. Charmy followed suit, and after grabbing his head, so did Vector. Amy looked at the genies and then looked at Cosmo. Cosmo did likewise and then smirked and pointed at her brain. Amy nodded also smirking.

"Provisos?" "Quid pro quos?" "You mean like limitations?" "Rules?" "On wishes?" Back and forth they went sounding more disbelieving with each question. "Huh, some all powerful genies. They can't even bring people back from the dead." Slowly Vector looked at Amy glaring, Espio looked at Vector worriedly, and Charmy just looked at everyone perplexedly. "I don't know Cosmo; they probably can't even help us out this cave." "Yeah." "Looks we'll have to find a way out of here."

_Thud!_

A big shoe, Vector's, slammed down in front of Cosmo and Amy. "Excuse me!" "Uh, oh," Espio said jumping up. "Are you looking to me!" Charmy, deciding it was time to have some fun, flew over to Vector and whispered to him, "Yes they are." "Did you turn on my light bulb!" "Uh Vector-ˮ "Yes they did." "Did you wake me up? Did you bring me here?" "Whoa, wait a-ˮ "Yes they did both of those things." Espio grabbed Charmy and pulled him away from Vector. "Stop it. He's-ˮ "And now all of a sudden you're walkin' out on me?" "That's what they said," Charmy called out from where Espio was holding him. Espio slapped Charmy in nervous fury. "Don't enco-ˮ "I don't think so!" "You tell 'em Vector!" "Oh, boy." Amy and Cosmo just grinned at each other. "Not right now!" "No way hozay!" "You're getting your wishes so SIT DOWN!"

Amy in Cosmo, in a nervous obedience, immediately sat down, and found themselves on Ariel's back. Flying over behind them, Vector pointed with both hands (and then some) as he declared, "In the case of an emergency, the exits are here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, anywhere." "Wait Vector!" Espio let go of Charmy and rushed over to Ariel. "I pray you think about what you're doing." Charmy rushed over to the opposite side of Vector. "Heavy thinking is your job we just do, right Vector?" "That's right, so everyone keep your hands and arms inside the Chaos," Vector said retracting his hands, "Because weeeeee're outa here!"

Espio face-palmed as he watched Vector drive Ariel through the top of the cave and into the still night. As he started to feel the pull of the light bulb on his manacles, he noticed the Chao colony staring after their Chaos. "Well," Espio mumbled with a shrug, "I suppose we have to take them with us."


	9. Interview with Michael

Interview with Michael

_Amy: And now-_

Cosmo: -a word-

Cream: -from our sponsor.

**C. Richard Crawg: Thanks, girls. Hello everyone, this is C. Richard Crawg and with me in the script studio today is Michael Stone from Michael, Carl, and the Order of Daemons. **

_**Michael Stone: 'Sup?**_

**CRC: Well actually, we have a similar problem in this interview that we had in the last interview.**

_**Michael: Seriously?**_

**CRC: Yeah, well, you see in the last interview, I was all prepared to interview the narrator of the book Avatar of the 8, but the Phantom Fox sent one of the other characters in his place.**

_**Michael: Are you saying you weren't supposed to meet me today?**_

**CRC: Well, I really don't know. You see my schedule says that I'm supposed to interview you, but the fine print states that you're not the main character in your book, and I always expect to interview the main character in books without a narrator.**

_**Michael: Oh, I gotcha, but don't worry; I think your schedule is fine. You wouldn't want to interview the main character. Carl is a bad guy for most of the story, so an interview with him might prove difficult.**_

**CRC: So they referenced me to the secondary main character instead?**

_**Michael: Yeah, exactly.**_

**CRC: Well then, let's start with the obvious first question; what is your relationship to the main character of Michael, Carl, and the Order of Daemons?**

_**Michael: Well, we used to be best friends, but we only saw each other at scouts. I was pretty pumped about being a boy scout for a while, but as younger scouts began joining the troop, I started to get bored. I stopped going on the camping trips and I didn't attend most meetings. After I had pretty much disappeared from scouts, Carl's girlfriend, Petunia, broke up with him, and I wasn't there to help him get over it. I really blame myself for what happened next. This creepy world-conqueror guy promised to get Petunia back with Carl if he denounced his faith and helped this maniac conquer the world. Ultimately, Carl accepted the agreement, and when a prophet of God came to me, asking me to fight against the coming invasion, I found myself becoming the arch-nemesis of my former best friend.**_

**CRC: Ouch! That must sting!**

_**Michael: …Yeah.**_

**CRC: Okay, so this is a Yu-gi-oh fic, right? But it doesn't seem to have any of the Yu-gi-oh characters.**

_**Michael: Right. This is a Yu-gi-oh fic only in the sense of dueling. The card game exists in this story in abundance. Even so, this story is really about the end-times prophecies in the Bible.**_

**CRC: Yes, that was going to be my next question; how do you mix Yu-gi-oh and the Bible?**

_**Michael: Oh, the Yu-gi-oh part of the story is total fiction, just part of the fun… or I suppose the more appropriate term would be nightmare. But a lot of the stuff about the end-times prophecies are accurate, or at least, highly likely. I know that "the end is near" has been the catchphrase of every other generation, but if one were to contrast the Biblical account of the end-times with current day events, you'd have to conclude that this time it really is near.**_

**CRC: Can you give me an example?**

_**Michael: Well, consider the coming battle of Gog and Magog. According to this prophecy, a great attack will come against Israel from what is modern-day Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, and Russia and that God will completely and utterly destroy Israel's enemies. If you look at current events, these countries, along with other middle-eastern countries are exploding, rather literally, with hatred for Israel, and there's a growing chance the rest of the world won't intervene. The battle of Gog and Magog is coming soon, but the Bible seems to imply that the rapture will come first.**_

**CRC: Yes, about that, I've searched the Bible, and I've never read anything about a "rapture."**

_**Michael: Well, the Bible never refers to it as such; the word "rapture" is relatively modern. However, the Bible does talk about the rapture. You see the rapture is going to be an event when all Christians are going to be called up to heaven. It's an evacuation-God protecting those who believe in him from the coming persecution during the tribulation.**_

**CRC: Perhaps the most interesting thing I noticed is that this story seems to state that the world will come under a one-world religion, government, and economy under the Anti-Christ.**

_**Michael: It will. Again, the Bible never uses those exact words, but it is the same thing. You see the three religions preventing a one-world religion are Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. After the rapture, the only true Christians left on earth will be the ones who became Christians after the rapture. The orthodox Muslims will be completely and utterly defeated by God in the battle of Gog and Magog, and then the Anti-Christ will come. Under his leadership, the Jews will be pulled into the one-world government, religion, and economy that the Anti-Christ will form, and about halfway through his reign, the Anti-Christ will turn on the Jews and begin to slaughter them in a massacre that far surpasses the holocaust.**_

**CRC: This is very fascinating, but unfortunately we are out of time.**

_**Michael: Hey, no problem, I understand.**_

**CRC: Thanks for giving us some insight into Michael, Carl, and the Order of Daemons. Take it away gals.**

Cream: And now-

Cosmo: -back to-

_Amy: -the show._


	10. Plots and Plans

**CRC: Holy smoke, has it really been almost two years since the last time I updated this story?! I don't suppose you'd believe that Amy's been holding a grudge against me for a while and wouldn't let me add the next chapter? ...No? Well, the only other option would be to believe that I'm the one writing this story and that I've had a bad case of writers block for a long time. Uh, but that, uh, is obviously not true since Amy and the other girls wrote this so... **

**In any case, when I realized just how long it'd been since I'd last updated this story, I said to myself "That's 12 months too many!" So I made my peace with Amy (or you can believe I forced myself to sit and write) until I procured the following chapter for all the people who've been screaming at me for more.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 6<strong>

**Plots and Plans**

"Rouge this is an outrage! Why if it weren't for all your years of loyal service-ˮ General Robotnik coughed, interrupting the king's rebukes. "Sire, if I may, I wish to intercede on behalf of the royal vizier." "I'll bet," Sonic muttered bouncing his fierce glare between Rouge and the general.

Avoiding Sonic's gaze, Robotnik made his plea to the king. "Sire, the girl in question was already a criminal. Between her and her partner, they had stolen and resisted arrest so many times that they already faced very strong charges." Robotnik paused for effect and then turning to look right at Sonic finished, "Even if it weren't for this incident, she would still probably have been executed sooner or later."

That point hit hard. Sonic wanted to believe that if Rouge had followed the proper procedure Sonic would've saved the life of the thief whose name he'd never learned. Would she still have been roboticized eventually despite his best efforts to avoid it?

The king, however, was unfazed. His head held high, the king rebuked his general saying, "Ivo Robotnik, that is strictly beside the point. What if the person had been an innocent? Rouge's actions would have condemned anyone without my approval no matter who they were. _That _is what is in dispute."

Robotnik was about to speak, but Rouge, kneeling on the throne room floor before the king with Elaso on her shoulder, signaled for silence. "I appreciate what you are trying to do, general. But the king is right; whether or not the person in question was an innocent is not the issue; my conduct of the matter is." King Sire nodded, his sternness softening a little. "I'm pleased you understand why I find fault. From now on Rouge, you are to discuss all sentencing of prisoners with me _before_ they are roboticized." Rouge bowed her head and placed her right hand over her heart. "I assure you my liege, it won't happen again."

Sonic let his jaw drop as he looked back and forth between his father and Rouge. "Is that it?" he cried indignantly. "You're not even going to punish her?" The king sighed, and turning to Sonic, he said, "My son,… I know this is hard to accept but… Robotnik did have a point. Perhaps I could've pardoned the girl on account of how she rescued you from that shop owner, but if she persisted in her thieving ways… eventually she would have been roboticized."

Sonic went numb for a moment. Even his father didn't believe the offense was inexcusable. It took him a few seconds to realize that the king was still talking. "... taking responsibility for her actions, and considering the circumstances, I am willing to forgive her." Then, taking his son's and Rouge's hands and putting them together, King Sire said, "Sonic, Rouge, let us put this whole messy business behind us. Please."

"My most abject and humble apologies, my prince." Sonic studied Rouge's face as she asked for his forgiveness, searching for any sign of true remorse. But it was all fake—he was sure of it.

In fact, the only sign of any real emotion in the vizier was a glint in her eyes—a stray tinge of anger she could not hide. Slapping away Rouge's hand he declared in a deep, ominous tone, "At least some good will come of my being forced to marry. When I am king, I shall have the power to get rid of you." And with that, the prince stormed off. The king glanced apologetically at Rouge for a moment, and then ran after his son. "Sonic, wait, I'm truly sorry, but-ˮ

As King Sire left the throne room and his voice faded away, Rouge twisted her face into a snarl. "If only I'd gotten that light bulb," she growled staring after the king as if he had taken the treasure in question. "'I will have the power to get rid of you'," Elaso mimicked, while Robotnik began a rant of his own. "Gah, to think, we're gonna have to kiss up to that chump and his chump son for the rest of our lives, it's just-ˮ Rouge cut him off as they walked over to look at the targets of their rage from the balcony. "No, Robotnik, only until he finds a chump wife. Then he'll have us banished." Robotnik's face contorted and he touched his throat. "More likely, roboticized." All three schemers 'ewed' at the thought of receiving capital punishment.

Suddenly, Elaso's eyes perked, his jaw dropped and he tapped Rouge's neck saying, "Oh, wait a minute, wait a minute, Rouge, what if _you _were the chump wife?" "What?!" Elaso started pacing around Rouge's shoulders. "Poor choice of words. What I meant was you marry the prince, right? Then you—then _you—_become the queen." Rouge's eyebrows shot up, and she and Robotnik glanced at each other. Slowly walking back into the throne room, Rouge mused, "Marry the wretch… but then I become queen?" Rouge sat down on the throne as if she were testing it, a huge grin forming on her face. "The idea has merit."

Robotnik, however, shook his head. "I don't see how this would work. Sonic would still be the king." But Rouge wasn't the royal vizier for nothing; she quickly quoted back to Robotnik, "As queen, I become a member of the royal family, and the law states that members of the royal family cannot be sentenced except under cases of treason." Robotnik narrowed his eyes at this. "I wouldn't get that protection. And we both know that, technically, you _are_ guilty of treason."

But Elaso, bouncing down Rouge's arm and toward her dragon headed staff came quickly to his master's defense. "Relax; you can hide in the secret laboratory while we make arrangements to drop papa-in-law and his-princely-pain-in-the-pants off a cliff." And with that, Elaso threw himself off Rouge's staff. "Yaaaa-kersplat!" Rouge and Elaso laughed and even Robotnik grinned.

"I suppose the idea does have some merit," Robotnik conceded. "However, there remains the issue of Manic. He's married (to the only wife he hasn't divorced), and thus he, not you, would be next in line for the throne." But Rouge just waved his hand at him. "Pish posh. Manic is naught but a minor technicality; a well paid assassin can take care of him easily." Grinning wickedly Rouge added, "And of course, once I am the official ruler of Agras-Ray-Mobia, I shall have the power to give you control over the Badniks you so greatly desire." Rouge and Elaso laughed manically again this time joined by the general who paused only to compliment Elaso. "I love the way your fowl little mind works!"

* * *

><p>It was a peaceful morning in the desert oasis. The hot sun shone down soothingly on the wild desert reptiles that thrived on such temperatures. And those creatures that didn't enjoy the sunshine could find solace in the oasis's trees or the lake in the center of the oasis. This peace, though, was doomed to be shattered by the craziest group that had ever been seen within its boundaries. Nor would a stranger group ever be seen there again.<p>

The first sign of something out of the ordinary was an oddly shaped cloud. In most places, this would not seem like a big deal, but clouds are rare in the desert. And this was not one of those rare occasions, as the cloud turned out to be a mass of Chao flying over the desert. Of course, that was something new altogether, but it was nothing compared to the flying Chaos in the center along with its passengers.

Vector was sitting up front, flying Ariel and making airplane sound effects. Charmy was hovering off to the side, dressed up as a flight attendant and providing commentary. Amy and Cosmo were in the middle, holding onto each other out of a natural fear of being on a fairly small flying object with no seat belts or walls and with a very gooey floor. And at the back of the party, Espio floated along, eyes closed and cross-legged.

"Thank you for riding Ariel airlines," Charmy said as they approached the oasis. "Remember to dispose of all trash properly, and please do not attempt to stand until the Chaos has come to a complete stop." Within a few seconds, they had reached the oasis. Cosmo and Amy stepped off of Ariel amid Charmy's 'thank you's and 'goodbye's, and Cosmo, clutching the red jewel in her chest, immediately ran off to jump in the lake. "Wahaa," Vector declared jumping off of Ariel, who immediately flew after Cosmo, "How did you like that miss-doubting-Mustafa?" "Well, you sure showed me," Amy conceded before smugly adding, "Now about my three wishes." "Dost my ears deceive me? Three?" Vector shook his head and thrust a finger almost into Amy's head. "You are down by one girl!"

Amy calmly pushed Vector's hand aside and replied, "Ah, no, I never actually wished to get out of the cave; you did that on your own." Vector chewed on that for a moment, and then his jaw dropped about twelve inches. "For the record," Espio put in amid splashing sounds, "I did try to warn you about that." "Well, I feel sheepish," Vector said, shrinking and transforming into a sheep. "Okay you baaaad girl, but no more freebees."

Amy was about to agree to the deal, when she heard a muffled cry for help coming from the lake. "What's all that noise?" Amy didn't wait to see if the genies would tell her; she ran over by the lake and immediately groaned. Cosmo and Ariel were at it again, splashing and slapping and making each other look like fools while they fought. "This has gone far enough," Amy muttered and then unleashed her temper, "Ariel, Cosmo, get over here now!" All of the exploring Chao panicked and hid as Amy pulled out her hammer and continued yelling, "Break it up and get out of there before I come in!"

Within a few seconds both the soggy plant creature and the one-armed water creature were standing in front of Amy as rigidly as if they were at attention. "Right, now what's the story here?" Cosmo rushed to supply an explanation. "I was just going for a swim to try and cool off when the water got a mind of its own and… well, it was Ariel." "And?" Amy asked, pressing for more, "what was she doing?" Cosmo didn't answer; she just shuddered.

This investigation would have gone on longer had not Espio put in his observations at this point. "Pardon me, but I noticed that Ariel is missing her right arm. Do you know what happened to it, Cosmo?" Cosmo shook her head and denied that she knew anything about it, but Ariel reacted with bubbling sounds and sign motions that Espio could apparently understand. "Just as I suspected. Well, Cosmo, you can rest in peace in the fact that, uh, (how should I put this?) Ariel was not trying to… take away your purity." "Then what the hell is going on here?" Amy yelled in frustration, still gripping her hammer firmly.

"Your friend drank Ariel's arm, master." That accusation took a moment to sink in, and when it did, both Amy's and Cosmo's faces twisted. "That is the most disgusting thing anyone has ever charged me with!" Cosmo yelled. Espio just shrugged and said, "Well, I just checked (don't ask how) and it's definitely in there." "But I never-ˮ "I'm not saying," Espio rushed to add, "that you did it on purpose. I'm aware that Seedrians have an instinctive capability to absorb water into their bodies through their hands or feet as well as by the normal method. Furthermore, I am aware that there is a natural but unhealthy amount of racial bias between plants and water creatures, not dissimilar to that which often exists between plants and animals. It's possible that you drank Ariel's arm while you were mad at her and didn't realize what you were doing." Was that possible? Actually, now that Cosmo thought about it…

(flashback)

As Cosmo started walking towards the jewel, Amy reached the island and began walking up the stairs toward the light bulb. Ariel turned to look at Cosmo in relief only to notice that Cosmo wasn't there. After taking a moment to look around, Ariel spotted Cosmo heading towards the ruby with a hungry glint in her eyes. Panicking, Ariel flew over to Cosmo and tried to hold her back.

Cosmo fought back, pulling away with all her might. "What are you doing," she hissed, "That thing's not trapped." But Ariel just held on all the harder, slowly pulling the greedy Seedrian away from her prize. Cosmo grabbed Ariel's arm; she didn't know what she was doing, only that she wanted that ruby, and the Chaos was stopping her. Suddenly, Ariel let out a gargling scream and her arm went slack.

Cosmo didn't bother wondering what happened, she just surged forward with Ariel trying to hold her back one-handed. She heard Amy yell at her, "Cosmo! No!" but with one last pounce she grabbed the ruby. And triggered the trap.

(end flashback)

It took Cosmo a few seconds to process this reevaluation of what happened, but when she had finished, she was still confused. "Perhaps I did drink Ariel's arm after all, but why was she… uh,…ˮ Espio took it upon himself to answer the unfinished question. "Well, you see, Ariel can easily regain her arm once it leaves your system. So, you see, she was trying to make you… urinate." When Cosmo still raised an eyebrow, Charmy put it bluntly; "You gotta pee."

"Ew!" "Yuck!" Cosmo and Amy both jumped away from Ariel as if she were a big germ while Charmy flew around them giggling. "I know; gross right." Vector smacked Charmy away. "You should really learn a few manners, boy." "_You're_ not exactly a good influence on him," Espio groaned. Turning back to Cosmo, the chameleon stated, "I think now that you know what the problem is, it can be solved."

But Cosmo shook her head vehemently. "I am not going to go with that thing waiting to suck up what comes out! It was weird enough when it was just water, but this is…" Amy sighed and moved between the plant and the Chaos. "Alright, you go," she said pointing at Cosmo. She then turned back to Ariel and said, "You stay here until she's finished. No sneaking, no peaking and most of all, no intruding. And let this be the last we hear of this disgusting business." Cosmo wrinkled her nose. "Did you have to say 'business'?" But she left to find someplace private and Ariel stayed where she was obediently.

Amy shook her head in an attempt to clear her thoughts. "Now, uh, where were we?" Vector found a couple of palm trees and hung himself between them as if he were in a hammock. "I think you were going to decide on a wish. Wake me up when you're ready." "Oh, yeah, right," Amy muttered, putting a finger up to her lips. "Three wishes; hmm, I want them to be good." Turning to face Vector and Charmy, she asked, "What would you wish for?" "Us?" Vector dropped to the ground, Charmy stopped flying in circles, and Espio poofed back into visibility right next to them. They all glanced at each other for a moment. "Nobody's ever asked us that before," Vector said. He started to continue saying, "Well, in my case-ˮ but then Espio put a hand on his shoulder and Vector's face fell. "Ah, forget it."

This peaked Amy's curiosity. "What, what is it?" "No, I can't… there's no point." Amy put her hands on her hips and looked between the three genies for a few seconds. They looked at each other for a moment too. Then finally, Espio shrugged his shoulders and spoke the one word on the minds of each of the genies; "Freedom." He lifted up his hands to show Amy the manacles on them, which in turn caused Amy to look at the light bulb wide-eyed. "You're slaves?"

"It's all part of the whole genie gig," Espio stated, before jumping back as Vector enlarged himself and turned red with various displays of galactic manipulation. "PHENOMINAL COSMIC POWER-ˮ he declared before shrinking down into the light bulb and dragging Espio and Charmy with him. "-itty bitty living space." "Yeah," Charmy agreed. "And what's worse, we have to share it."

Amy just shook her head, her eyes tearing up a bit. "Ah, guys that's… that's awful." "But, oh to be free," Charmy declared dreamily, drifting out of the light bulb. "Yeah," Espio agreed, "and to not have to go *poof* 'What do you need?' *poof* 'What do you need?' *poof* 'What do you need?'" "To be my own master," Vector declared rising up in awe at the thought. "Such a thing would be greater than all the treasure and all the magic in all the world!"

But then Espio started pulling Vector back down. "Yeah, but what are we talking about? It's not gonna happen; Vector wake up and smell the humus." Amy raised her eyebrow. "Well, why not?" "Well you see," Vector explained, "the only way we can get free is if our master wishes us out, so I'll bet you can guess how many times that's happened."

Amy didn't even need to think about how to respond to this; these guys, as weird as they were, shouldn't be forced to be slaves all their lives. "Well, I'll do it, I'll set you free." "You will?" Charmy asked, but Espio just snorted. "Uh, huh, yeah, right, sure." Then Espio, in a manner quite unlike him, transformed his head into Pinocchio's and elongated his nose. Amy, of course, had never watched Pinocchio because she'd been a road hog her whole life, but she understood what Espio was trying to say. Pushing his nose back into his face, Amy told Espio and the other genies, "No, really, after I use my first two wishes, I'll use my third one to set you free." Amy reached out her hand for a handshake. "So how about it?" "Well," Vector said slowly, accepting the handshake, "Here's hoping."

But Espio just grumbled and started to walk off. "I know you mean well, but mark my words; power corrupts. Not that I believe you're trying to give us false hopes, but the temptation to use your wishes for yourself will be too overwhelming for a common thief to resist." But Charmy, the deal having been made, went back to being bratty. "You always expect bad stuff to happen. Why don't you try being happy for once?" Espio rolled his eyes and turned invisible. "Believe what you want to believe; I shall not get my hopes up."

"Ignore him," Vector said to Amy and Charmy. "He'll just ruin the good mood. Let's make some magic! So how about it; what is it you want most?" Most? Amy didn't have to think long about that. "Well… there's this guy…" "Whoa, hold on!" Espio declared, reappearing in between Amy and Vector. "We can't force people to truly love each other, remember?" Amy lifted her hands in an attempt to calm Espio down. "Yeah, I know, but… but Espio he's smart and fun and…" "Handsome?" Charmy suggested. Amy just sighed and nodded. "He's got these beautiful green eyes and such strong blue quills, and he's the fastest person I've ever met."

Cosmo returned just in time to see Vector and Ariel wearing French clothes and at a table with French wine. "Ami. C'est l'amour," Vector said, raising his glass. She then turned to view Amy's swooning and smacked herself in the head. "Uh, Amy? You're not thinking about the prince again, are you?" Amy's smile vanished and she looked at the ground. "I know, I know. To even have a chance I'd have to be-ˮ But then Amy stopped and her eyes lit up. "Hey," Amy said turning back to Vector, "could you make me a princess?"

Vector grinned, put on a pair of reading glasses and pulled out a "Royal Recipes" cook book. "Let's see… Chicken a la King," he said, pulling a crowned chicken out of the book. "Nope." Flipping a few pages he read, "Alaskan King Crab." Immediately, Vector yanked his finger out of the book and shook a crab off of it. "Ow! I hate it when I do that." Vector turned another page and read, "A Caesar Salad." A Roman arm holding a dagger shot out of the book at Vector. "AHH! Et tu Brute? Nope." Vector stuffed the arm back into the book and tried one more page. "Ah, here we are: how to make a princess."

But once again, Espio interjected. "Uh, hold on a minute. I'm not sure that's such a good idea. I mean, yeah we could give you the title and a lot of regal stuff, but you wouldn't have a kingdom. No brainwashing, remember? You can't force people to accept you as their princess." "Oh, I don't need a kingdom," Amy replied waving him off. "I just need to be a princess to get around the law." "Yeah, Espio, buzz off," Charmy added, motioning with his stinger. Espio walked away and grumbled that this was not a good idea.

Scooting over beside Amy, Vector eyed her knowingly and said, "Now is this an official wish? Say the magic words." Grinning from ear to ear, Amy replied, "Vector, I wish for you to make me a princess." Vector and Charmy both let out a cheer. "All right!" "Yahoo!"

Transforming into a tailor, Vector examined Amy. "First, this blanket and rag combo is much too third century. And these patches: what are we trying to say here? Beggar? No. Come on, work with me." Vector pulled out a tape measure, and measured Amy up-down, sideways and all around, resulting in the tape being tied in a knot. Amy wasn't sure what this was supposed to accomplish until Vector gave a yank on the tape and *poof* she found herself in a very fancy pink dress wearing a small, crystal crown. "Ooh," Vector said, examining his work. "I like it, muy hermosa." But Amy was underwhelmed. "Uh, I don't know… it's a lot harder to move in this thing. I mean-ˮ "Discomfort!?" Vector clucked his tongue. "Well, we can't have that." Vector whiplashed the tape measure, and the dress shifted, becoming a little bit less fancy, and a lot looser.

"There," Vector said, "a dress tailored to perfection. Combining knockout looks, with a tomboy's need for maneuverability. As a couple of bonuses, your crown has an attachment for the light bulb-ˮ Vector pointed up to an oddly shaped gap in Amy's tiara. "-which may not be fashionable, but will prove a whole lot less awkward that carrying it around in that flashlight-thingy. Furthermore, I have given you a special power- every princess should have a special power." Amy raised an eyebrow at that. "Like a healing power?" "No," Vector replied as a clone of himself started a drum roll. "I granted you the power to summon hammers at will."

There was silence for a moment, and then Espio started to say, "Really? You call that an appropriate 'special power' for-ˮ But Amy cut him off. "Awesome!" Amy twirled around in her new dress, showering glitter behind her, and then summoned a hammer and squealed with delight. "Cosmo, Cosmo, look at this," she called out to her leafy friend, summoning hammers and throwing them in the air where they vanished. Giggling, Charmy whispered to Vector, "Looks like you know how to give a gal the perfect present."

Vector nodded, but then frowned and put a hand to his long chin. "Something's still speaking to me. Let me think, what does it say? It says…" Vector turned toward Cosmo, who was silently watching her friend's ecstasy. Glancing over at the croc, Cosmo said shortly, "You'd better not be planning to transform me into some crazy animal for Amy to make her grand entrance on." Vector and Charmy burst out laughing. "No, no," Vector said after a moment, "I've got the Chao for that, but you can't accompany a princess looking like a servant for the servants' servants. You're going to need a good look too."

Before Cosmo could either agree or argue with Vectors point, the croc snapped his fingers. Instantly, Cosmo was obscured in magical sparkles, and when they cleared, Cosmo was wearing a modest green and white dress (as seen on TV!) and matching shoes and stockings. "Voila!" the green genie declared as the seedrian examined her new clothes. "A fitting outfit for a princess's head servant. And, just because I could, I added a special 'parachute' feature that will allow you to glide through the air whenever you find yourself falling." "That'll probably come in handy someday," Amy said grinning, "knowing how often she jumps off of buildings." "Yeah, yeah, very funny," Cosmo replied, although she couldn't hide a few giggles.

While the girls admired their new clothes and abilities, Vector turned to look at the Chao who were now exploring and playing everywhere in the oasis—all except two who were intently watching Vector. The crocodile smiled at the curious little Chao and rubbed his chin in thought. "Were you two watching me perform magic?" The cute blue critters 'chao'ed an affirmative. Shrinking himself so he could talk face-to-face with his audience, he asked, "Would you like to help make Amy's dreams come true?" The Chao 'chao'ed again, this time in excitement. "Excellent!" Vector responded. "What are your names?" "Chao, chao, chao," the Chao replied. "Well, I'll make sure you two have extra special roles in this, but first I need you to gather the rest of the Chao; we're going to make this girl a star!"

* * *

><p><strong>Allow me to everyone who posted a review during my absence. Although you may not believe it due to how long it took me to post this, those reviews really did help motivate me to get this chapter fini-er... I mean, "get this chapter from Amy." <strong>

**I better sign off now; the sooner I post this, the better.**


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